JNA shard
The Serbian Armed Forces, of course, are not a match for the Armed Forces of the "big" Yugoslavia (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), that is, the JNA, the Yugoslav People's Army, or the Armed Forces of the "small" Yugoslavia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Yes, and the short-lived S&M Armed Forces (Serbia and Montenegro) are outnumbered. But in the matter of confronting neighbors, one does not need to look back at the past, but one needs to focus on the current balance of forces with neighbors. As the saying goes, if you run away from a bear with a neighbor, then it is not necessary to run faster than a bear, but faster than a neighbor is an indispensable condition.
It can be stated that the Serbian Armed Forces, although they are greatly emaciated in numbers (but quite decently rearmed and switched to voluntary recruitment, which has its pros and cons), is, on the whole, stronger than almost all of its neighbors, except perhaps Romania. In the current Armed Forces of Serbia, consisting of two types: the Ground Forces (Land Forces) and the Air Force and Air Defense (the fleet was lost along with Montenegro, and the Danube Flotilla is part of the Land Forces, and, for some reason, it also includes pontoon units with our PMP parks) there are 28 thousand military personnel, not counting civil servants.
Serbian Air Force. Gluing fragments
The Air Force and Air Defense of Serbia were in very poor condition until recently. So, in fighter aircraft, only 4 MiG-29s of the outdated version "9-12B" and "9-51" (combat training twin) remained in service, and 1 was in a non-flying state, and at the same time no more than 2 flew at all. there are several flying MiG-21s - about 3-4 aircraft. This, even against the background of the armies that entered NATO and finally cut down the armies (the striped master will protect everyone - so they think), somehow did not impress the neighbors at all. Russia recently handed over to Serbia 6 fighters that had previously belonged to the 31st Guards Fighter Aviation Nikopol Krasnoznamenny, Horde. Suvorov regiment named after Hero of the Soviet Union N. E. Glazov (31st Guards IAP) in Millerovo in the Rostov region. Now the regiment has been rearmed on the Su-30SM and will also receive the Su-35S, and part of the MiGs after refurbishment went to the Serbs. Russia will also repair and modernize the existing old Serb MiG-29s to the same standard as the newly transferred MiG-29SM.
Transferred 6 MiG-29 fighters from the Aerospace Forces
The work will be partially carried out in Serbia itself, the level of modernization is most likely the same as that of the Syrian MiGs, capable of using both guided and corrected weapons against ground targets, and modern medium-range missile systems RVV-SD (export version R-77-1) by air. Negotiations are also underway with Belarus on the sale of 8 Belarusian MiG-29 "9-13" from storage after repair, perhaps the deal will "grow together" this year. It is also planned to modernize these machines in Serbia according to the same SM version at the Moma Samoilovich aircraft repair plant, which is planned, with the assistance of the Russian Federation, to turn into a regional center for the repair and maintenance of both MiGs and Mi-8/17 helicopters. Now they are repaired there of French design, but locally assembled Gazelle helicopters will also serve the Airbus H-145M (former VK-117S2, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations) purchased this year by the Serbian Air Force, which has been ordered 9.
The first modernized lightweight fighter-bomber J-22 "Orao-2.0" (in two-seat version) at its premiere at the end of 2016.
The Serbs also have about 26 light subsonic fighter-bombers J-22 "Orao" Yugoslav-Romanian development of various modifications (J-22, NJ-22, IJ-22 and INJ-22), of which 17 are capable of flying, and until recently of time, only 2 were regularly taken to the air, and now 7 aircraft have recently undergone repair and modernization, and in the near future 12 will become fully combat-ready, and then all 17. There are still G-4M "Super-Galeb" subsonic training aircraft that can be used as light attack aircraft and target towing aircraft, there are 21 of them, but not all of them fly either.
G-4M "Super-Galeb" Air Force and Air Defense of Serbia
The functions of a light anti-partisan aircraft can also be performed by 14 brand-new piston training aircraft "Last-95" of Serbian development, but there is frankly little sense with such a "flying tank" - there is no armor, the speed is low, it carries a couple of containers with light and large-caliber machine guns, light NAR blocks or a couple of bombs. Consider that there is no transport aviation in Serbia - the only An-26 can perform the functions of parachute training or the withdrawal of special-purpose reconnaissance groups, but that's all.
The helicopter fleet includes 10 Mi-17s, about 30 French Gazelles SA-341/342 assembled in Yugoslavia (some of these armored helicopters are equipped with ATGMs and 20mm cannons and can perform anti-tank functions, in any case, there are no other helicopters with ATGMs in Serbia yet). Perhaps something will appear later, for example, the Russian Federation can share the Mi-24P, anyway, they will soon fly off with us.
The weakness of the Serbian Armed Forces can also be considered the air defense - about two dozen batteries of the outdated C-125M "Neva" and 2K12 "Cube", albeit modernized by the local industry, can not serve as worthy protection for either the troops or the territory of the country, in the military air defense - the same "Cuba", as well as short-range air defense systems "Strela-10M" (in one brigade) and even "Strela-1" (in the rest), and various anti-aircraft artillery. Of course, the S-125 can be converted into "Pechora-2M" and get quite adequate systems for reasonable money, but this is not enough. Therefore, negotiations are now underway with Moscow on the supply of 2 divisions of S-300PMU-2 air defense systems, but so far these systems seem too expensive to Belgrade and various options for a deal are being considered. It is also planned to receive 2 divisions of the Buk-M1 air defense missile system from Minsk, with their subsequent modernization by Russia to Buk-M1-2E. It is not yet clear if this delivery will take place this year, as previously reported. It is also planned to purchase, and, perhaps, transfer by Russia, more modern radar stations on duty and combat modes, electronic warfare equipment and other things.
Ground troops. Small but strong
The ground forces consist of 4 combat brigades, 1 mixed artillery (rather, missile and artillery - it also includes MLRS), a special purpose brigade, as well as the Danube river flotilla and 4 separate battalions: the 3rd and 5th battalions of the military police, and also - radiation, chemical and biological protection and a communications battalion.
Serbian brigades are somewhat larger than the standard for the current European armies, and differ from ours. They consist of 5 combat battalions: a tank battalion with 53 tanks, 2 mechanized (motorized infantry, or, in our opinion, motorized rifle) battalions, 2 infantry battalions (there is only one such battalion in the 1st brigade), and there is also a self-propelled artillery division, a rocket artillery division, air defense division, engineering, logistics and headquarters battalions. Such a structure does not seem balanced (in particular, it is not very convenient to form battalion tactical groups, and there is no need to mix light infantry with motorized infantry and tankers), but is a consequence of reductions and reforms, although, in general, it is quite workable. And it is quite possible to deploy new mobilization units on the basis of such a structure. But, it should be noted that the Serbs have now greatly reduced stocks of weapons and equipment in storage, in particular, several hundred T-55s were written off several years ago (some of them were already sold for scrap, some are waiting for their fate), so many will not be mobilized.
The deployment of Serbian brigades also shows priorities - out of 4 combat brigades, one is in the north, with headquarters in Novi Sad, in the Croatian and Bosnian directions, and the rest, with headquarters in Nis, Kraljevo and Vrana, surround the border with Kosovar separatists. In Nis - and the headquarters of the command of the land army. The artillery brigade of the Serbian army is also stationed there, including a mixed division of MLRS (128mm MLRS M-77 "Ogan", an analogue of "Grada", and heavy 262mm MLRS M-87 "Orcan-2" with a range of up to 70 km), as well as 2 howitzer towed (152mm M-84 "Nora", a system of about the level of "Msty-B" 2A65) and 2 cannon towed battalions (M-46/84). The special forces brigade of the Serbian army is the most prepared unit, its units are deployed in Belgrade, Pancevo (in the autonomous Vojvodina) and in Nis, in the south. It consists of the Sokoly counter-terrorist battalion, the Cobra military police special forces battalion, the 63rd paratrooper battalion and the 72nd commando special reconnaissance battalion. These units have recently regularly conducted joint exercises with colleagues from Russia and Belarus - with paratroopers and special forces. They are very well equipped, although the use, along with the new "Outposts", and the G-36, looks strange (they would have bought SCAR or HK-416/417, if there is a lot of extra money).
In total, the Serbian army has 212 M-84 tanks of various modifications, 13 T-72M1 tanks, and 68 tanks of these types are in long-term storage. In general, the tank fleet is quite numerically at the level of the European degraded "old" NATO armies of the first magnitude, but the saturation of the army with tanks and armored vehicles is higher than them - the Serbian army is less than, say, the French ground forces, and there is the same amount of heavy equipment.
M-84AV1. Find 10 differences with the T-90 (although there are even more)
M-84AS1
Modernization of the M-84 / M-84A in different versions, up to the receipt of a machine similar to our T-90 mod. 1992 - this M-84AV1, unfortunately, either did not start, or insignificant quantities were modernized and much more modestly. So, recently at the parade, in the troops and at exhibitions, another modernization of the M-84AS1 with a remote sensing device similar to the outdated Contact-1, lattice screens, a remotely controlled anti-aircraft turret and other changes was lit up. It is known that in the near future Russia will supply Serbia with a little more than 30 T-72B3 tanks, among other military and special equipment and weapons (30 BRDM-2, 6 MiG-29 fighters, etc.). In fact, this is a battalion kit of a tank regiment, if in our opinion, but the Serbs have their own states. What is this modification of the T-72B3, model of 2011 or 2016, which is now called T-72B3 with UBH (with improved combat characteristics - with a new MTO, a set of DZ "Relikt" on the sides, an additional hinged DZ and elements of the "Relic" in old modules NKDZ "Contact-5") - unknown. But it is known that this year the Serbs will use these tanks in the tank biathlon, and there we will see what they were given. The T-72B3, even of the early model, is in any case much stronger than the M-84 in any variant - a new, more accurate and faster stabilizer, a new 2A46M5 (5.1) cannon, a perfect multi-channel thermal imaging sight PNM "Sosna-U", automatic target tracking, new ammunition (but they will not be given to the Serbs), and the protection is also much better.
The Serbian motorized infantry is armed with 550 M-80A infantry fighting vehicles (in service about 320 vehicles in 8 battalions of 40 vehicles each, the rest are in reserve) - Yugoslav-developed vehicles armed with Malyutka ATGM and 20mm M-55 cannons. It is planned to bring 220 such vehicles to the level of M-80AV1 by 2020, such vehicles have already been shown at parades, they are armed with a 30mm cannon, new Serbian ATGMs, have a new FCS and enhanced booking.
BMP BVP M-80AB1
A very good wheeled combat vehicle, the Lazar armored personnel carrier (in honor of Prince Lazar Khrebelianovich, who, incidentally, died on Kosovo Pole in the battle with the Turks in 1389), produced in the Lazar-1 and Lazar-2 variants has been developed and supplied. and "Lazar-3". The first of them is a 6x6 MRAP weighing 16-28 tons (with different protection options), the second is a classic, but non-floating, 8x8 armored personnel carrier weighing 28 tons, the third is an even heavier vehicle weighing 32 tons with different combat modules, incl. with 12.7mm machine gun or 30mm 2A42 cannon or ATGM. The vehicles have protection from Level 2 STANAG-4569 in the basic configuration up to Level 4 in the side and Level 5 in the front projection in the maximum configuration (that is, it is quite worthy - 14.5mm machine gun in a circle and in the forehead - 25mm BPS). But these machines are still few, a few dozen, although more than 200 have been ordered. And their design has not yet been worked out, they say that they are assembled individually and many machines even have differences between themselves, that is, while this is a pilot production.
There are also hundreds of three different wheeled and tracked light armored vehicles, including both locally made BOV VP, BOV M11, new light MRAP BOV M16, and Soviet - BRDM-2, BTR-50, MTLBu, BTR-60P. The Serbian infantry and motorized infantry are very well equipped (although the equipment is mostly outdated, but it will do for their tasks) well equipped and decently trained.
The artillery park includes: 88 MLRS types M-94, M-87, M-77 and LRVSM Morava (new modular two-caliber MLRS); 100 self-propelled guns, including 30 155mm wheeled automated "Nora" B-52, as well as 2S1 "Carnation"; 72 towed 152mm and 130mm guns (another 300 D-30 in reserve), mortars.
Also in Serbia there is such a structure as the gendarmerie - the successor of the PZhP - special police units that successfully acted against Kosovo terrorists during the 1999 war. and before her. Of course, it is much smaller than the PZhP units in number (less than 4,000 people), but the personnel are well trained in counterterrorism, the fight against irregular formations and are well equipped, although the equipment and weapons, of course, are light - armored cars, jeeps with machine guns and light mortars. trucks.
It must be said that for a small country Serbia has a fairly good defense-industrial complex - the legacy of Yugoslavia, which the "democratic" authorities did not manage to completely break, even together with Brussels. The Serbs cannot produce tanks - the Croats retained the plant, but the components for the M-84 were made mainly in Serbia, so the Croats also have no possibility of producing them. But they can also modernize and repair - yes, they can also produce self-propelled guns, artillery systems, light armored vehicles, ammunition, small arms, light aircraft and UAVs. I must say that the Serbs have a number of very interesting developments that have few analogues in the world. And, although they were developed mainly for the money of foreign customers, their appearance in service with Serbia is very likely - remember how at one time we had a "Tiger" or ZRPK "Pantsir-S", created in the "saints" for some whom the 90s.
Launching a heavy ATGM ALAS in inert equipment
We are talking about a self-propelled over-the-horizon long-range ATGM ALAS, created with money from the United Arab Emirates - a system on the Nimr automobile chassis (the Emirati relative of our Tiger), with 6 heavy subsonic ATGMs with thermal imaging cameras and manual guidance over a fiber-optic cable from a height of 200-500m, the target is attacked into the roof. Such a principle was once developed by the French in their Polyphemus system, it is used on the Israeli Spike system and not only there, but is quite rare in the world. The range of the ALAS-A missile is announced at 25 km, perhaps there will be a version of the ALAS-B with a range of 60 km and a light anti-ship missile flying at a height of 5 m. The downside of these missiles can be considered large for ATGM dimensions and low speed, making them a good target for air defense, while the advantages are high noise immunity and long range. ALAS is undergoing trials that promise to be completed soon. There is also an adjustable, ground-based gliding bomb (!) Of the Koshava-1 and Koshava-2 variants, which are launched from containers identical with ALAS, which are probably being developed by order of Pakistan. In fact, "Koshava-1" (this is not a cat, this is such a dry wind in Serbia that is the name) is a gliding bomb with a TV / IR seeker, weighing 248 kg, with a warhead of 100 kg, but with a solid propellant booster weighing 61 kg. After the start and separation of the accelerator, the device plans from a height to the target at a speed of about 200 m / s. Interesting enough weapon and inexpensive for local wars. The Serbs even demonstrated these systems to the leadership of our Defense Ministry, perhaps trying to interest them, being themselves interested in our technologies. But in general, there is something to cooperate with the military-industrial complex of Serbia, regardless of whether there will be any military complications in the region or not.
"Koshava-1" and Russian Defense Minister General of the Army S. K. Shoigu
So, in Russia the ultra-long-range Klevok-Hermes air defense missile system, however, with significantly more advanced guidance systems, much more powerful warheads, with supersonic and much less noticeable ATGMs and a range of up to 100 km, is still under testing, with the exception of the aviation version. But it is much more complicated and expensive.
In general, at the local Balkan level, the Serbian Armed Forces and the military industry are quite high, and there are military capabilities to solve the Kosovo problem. Moreover, the opposing "police forces" and the "Security Forces" of Kosovo with a total number of less than 5 thousand people. do not have heavy weapons, armed with a maximum of armored cars, grenade launchers and mortars. But do not delude yourself that if something happened and even without a direct clash with KFOR, local militants would not have MANPADS, ATGMs and other useful things. It is possible that there is already both that, and another, imported by the Americans in advance. There was also information that some of the militants from Syria were transferred to Kosovo. And the Syrian militants have considerable combat experience that the Serbian military does not have. Which, of course, can complicate everything. But the main thing that can complicate the Serbian army's solution of some tasks in Kosovo, limited or maximum, is the lack of will on the part of the leadership trying to stay on the "two-vector" model of development, although it is known that an attempt to sit on two chairs ends with a broken "fifth point." …
