Those are not small amounts for Serbia. Actually 23 helicopters, 22 radars, 2 transport aircraft,.. are not a small amount of weapons for a large number of countries in the world.
And if you take a look at the most of modern infra red, thermo vision… systems in the Serbian Army you will see that those are from the west, or based on components from the western countries, especially France.
Almost complete modern communication systems in the Serbian Army are based on Thales and Tadiran equipment, with our own integration.
And yes those countries did recognize Kosovo as an independent state, but Serbia is a small country in the middle of Europe, we are surrounded on all sides by NATO members. You can’t really expect us to isolate ourselves from all of them. Even China has to cooperate with those countries, it’s hard to imagine that Serbia would give them all the middle finger, and go on our merry way.
And let’s not forget that Serbia is trying to balance in the middle of it all. We are the only country in Europe that did not put Russia under sanctions. We have friendly relations with China, we are the only EU member or candidate state that did not vote for the last packet of sanctions for Iran…
And before this war, we have bought from Russia:
- 5 Mi-17V5
- 4 Mi-35M
- 10 Mig 29 from Russia and Belarus, with arrmaments and modernization to SM version for those 10, and 4 of our own
- 6 Pantsir S1E
Serbia ordered from Russia additionally:
- 3 Mi-17V5
- 4 Mi-35M
- 2 Ka-32
- 2 batteries of Pantsir S1M or SM
- Krasukha EWC (most probably Krasukha-4)
- Repellent EWC
Only those 2 Ka-32 are delivered, because those are fire fighting helicopters. When will we get the rest, if ever, who knows.
And Serbia bought from China:
- 4 batteries of FK-3 air defence system
- 6 CH-92A UCAV
There is also joint development with China. Pegaz UCAV is domestic development in cooperation with China, it should have similar capabilities and share some subsystems with CH-92A.
Serbia also ordered CH-95 UCAV from China. Also Serbia is negotiating acquisition of unspecified amount of Baykar Bayraktar TB2 UCAV from Turkey. According to our president Serbia is ready to increase a previous order worth tens of millions of dollars, to hundreds of millions of dollars.
We are trying to diversify our acquisitions as much as we can. But it’s not only the question what Serbia wishes for, but it’s also the question of what Serbia can get. Even before the war we have had the issues with delivery of Russian weapons. We had to transport T72B1 MS tanks one by one with planes, because NATO countries did not allow transport by railway or Danube. Even delivery of FK3 from China was seriously delayed, for the same reason. We don’t really have the luxury to do what we want.
