The government of the Republic of Serbia will invest more money in The Army of Serbia (Serbian Armed Forces, SAF), President Aleksandar Vučić said last February 7 after participating in the exercise "Vrh Koplja (diamond point) 2021"at the" Rastko Nemanjić "barracks in Pančevo, involving 72a special operations brigade.
Vučić stated that the brigade currently has 10 M16 multi-role armored vehicles Miloš 4 × 4 (MPAV) and five armed unmanned land vehicles (UGV) Mali (small) Miloš. The vehicles supplied to the 72nd brigade will be supplemented by another 20 MPAV M16s by the end of the year.
In addition, on February 6, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojša Stefanović told Serbian newspaper Politika that Serbia would receive four more MiG-29 fighters from Belarus during the second quarter of this year, thus bringing the Belgrade fleet. to 14 aircraft. As regards the Mig 29 component Fulcrum the process of upgrading the 10 machines of the 204th Air Brigade of Batajnica to the SMT (7) and UMT (3) standards is currently underway at the Aeronautical Plant “Moma Stanojlovic” which will be completed by June. In addition, the delivery of 19 T-72B1MS tanks and 20 modernized BRDM-2M armored reconnaissance vehicles will also be completed, bringing the number of vehicles in service to 30 MBT per model.
Serbia will also receive back-up air defense systems this year Mistral M3 and by the end of 2021 the number of self-propelled howitzers of national production NORA-B52 M15 155 mm in service with the SAF will be increased from six to 18, thus completing the personnel of the self-propelled artillery departments, Stefanović said.
In addition, the update of the entire fleet of M-84 tanks to the AS1 standard continues in order to homogenize the armored vehicles in force with the four armored battalions of the country (15th, 26th, 36th, 46th).
Enhancements to the M-84AS1 include a higher level of survivability thanks to the additional armor protection that includes Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) on the hull and turret front arc intended to provide additional protection against ammunition equipped with a high explosive potential (HEAT) anti-tank warhead and bar / lamella armor on the rear arch of the turret and hull.
Parallel to the M-84 tanks, 220 examples of the M-80 IFVs are also being upgraded to the AB1 standard including the installation of a new 30 mm gun (Shipunov 2A42) and a 7,62 mm coaxial machine gun.
The turret is equipped with new fire control equipment and a new daytime optronic package capable of detecting targets up to 2.000m in most weather conditions, two electrically operated 82mm smoke grenade launchers mounted on both sides turret, but are not currently connected to any laser detectors to provide active protection.
The vehicle can be equipped with two Maljutka 2T5 anti-tank guided missiles (ATGWs) that have already undergone the first shooting tests and are equipped with a command-to-line of sight (SACLOS) semi-automatic guidance system with a maximum range of up to 5.000 m at a maximum speed of 200 m / s.
Photo: Званични веб-сајт Војске Србије
