Serbian Armed Forces

Serbia has a long military tradition dating to early medieval period. The modern Serbian military dates back to the Serbian Revolution which started in 1804 with the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman occupation of Serbia. The victories in the battles of Ivankovac (1805), Mišar (August 1806), Deligrad (December 1806) and Belgrade (November–December 1806), led to the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1817. The subsequent Second Serbian Uprising of 1815–1817 led to full independence and recognition of the Kingdom of Serbia and weakened the Ottoman dominance in the Balkans. In November 1885 the Serbo-Bulgarian War occurred following Bulgarian unification and resulted in a Bulgarian victory. In 1912 the First Balkan War (1912–1913) erupted between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria). Balkan League victories in the Battle of Kumanovo (October 1912), the Battle of Prilep (November 1912), the Battle of Monastir (November 1912), the Battle of Adrianople (November 1912 to March 1913), and the Siege of Scutari (October 1912 to April 1913) resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its remaining Balkan territories per the Treaty of London (May 1913). Shortly after, the Second Balkan War (June to August, 1913) broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the division of territory, declared war against its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested an armistice and signed the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, formally ending the war.

Serbia's independence and growing influence threatened neighboring Austria-Hungary which led to the Bosnian crisis of 1908–09. Consequently, from 1901, all Serbian males between the ages of 21 and 46 became liable for general mobilization.[11] Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914, Austria-Hungary implicated Serbians and declared war on Serbia (July 1914), which marked the beginning of the First World War of 1914–1918. Serbian forces repelled three consecutive invasions by Austria in 1914, securing the first major victories of the war for the Allies, but were eventually overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Central Powers (October–November 1915) and forced to retreat through Albania (1915–1916) to the Greek island of Corfu (1915–1916).

Serbian military activity after World War I took place in the context of various Yugoslav armies until the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the restoration of Serbia as an independent state in 2006.

The Serbian Armed Forces are commanded by the General Staff corp of senior officers. The general staff is led by the Chief of the General Staff.The President who is the Commander-in-Chief appoints the Chief of the General Staff on the suggestion of the minister of defense.[12] The current Chief of the General Staff is General Milan Mojsilović.

Organization of Serbian Armed Forces

The Serbian Armed Forces has a wide variety of equipment, mix of older Yugoslav and Soviet products (dating back to the 1980s and even 1970s) and new equipment, either domestically-produced from Serbian defence contractors or acquired from foreign producers (main suppliers being Russia, France, China, and to a lesser extent Germany).

Inventory of Serbian Army includes: 242 tanks (30 Russian T-72 B1MS and 212 Yugoslav-made M-84), 90 self-propelled howitzers (18 domestically-produced Nora B-52 and 72 Soviet-made Gvozdika), 60 Yugoslav-made M-77 Oganj MRLs, 320 Yugoslav-made BVP M-80 infantry fighting vehicles, 36 domestically-produced Lazar armoured personnel carriers, over 100 MRAPs and other armoured vehicles (including 30 domestically-produced Miloš) as well as 18 pieces of domestically-produced PASARS-16 short-range air-defence missile system (armed with total of 50 French Mistral 3 missiles).[14][15]

Serbian Air Force and Air Defense has in operational use the following equipment: 14 Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter aircraft (11 of which are modernized to SM standard and armed with R-77 missiles),[16] 19 Yugoslav-made J-22 attack aircraft, 1 Soviet-made An-26 transport aircraft, 4 (and 4 more on order) Russian Mi-35 attack helicopter (armed with Ataka missiles), 13 Russian Mi-17 utility helicopters, 5 (and 10 more on order) German H145M utility helicopters, 6 Chinese CH-92 combat drones, 4 batteries of Chinese HQ-22 long-range air-defence missile system,[17] one battery (and 2 more on order) of Russian Pantsir medium-range air-defence missile system.

In last several years Serbia has embarked on ambitious programme of equipment modernisation and acquisition. Whenever possible, the Serbian Ministry of Defence favors products that are manufactured in Serbia such as: Lazar armoured personnel carriers, Miloš light armored infantry vehicles, Nora B-52 artillery systems, Lasta 95 training aircraft. Largest procurement of foreign equipment recently included: Chinese HQ-22 air-defence missile system, Airbus H145M utility helicopters, Russian Mi-35 attack helicopters as well as various missile acquisitions (French surface-to-air Mistral for PASARS vehicles; Russian R-77 air-to-air BVR missiles for MiG-29 fighter aircraft, Ataka air-to-surface missiles for Mi-35 attack helicopters and Kornet man-portable anti-tank guided missiles).

Significant acquisitions of military equipment are also planned in the near future: 2 Airbus C-295 transport aircraft (due to be delivered by the end of 2023), French Thales long-range Ground Master 400 and short-range Ground Master 200 air defence mobile radar systems (to be delivered in 2022 and 2023) and Russian long-range Krasukha and short-range Repellent Patrol mobile electronic warfare systems.[18][19][20] Recently it was also announced the intention of purchase of 12 new French Rafale multirole fighter aircraft with the aim of replacing MiG-29 which will be in service until the end of the 2020s.[21]

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  M-84 tank
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  Nora B-52 self-propelled howitzer
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  M-77 Oganj multiple rocket launcher
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  Lazar armored personnel carrier
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  Miloš armored vehicle
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  PASARS-16 anti-aircraft artillery system
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  Neštin-class river minesweeper
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  MiG-29 fighter aircraft
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  An-26 transport aircraft
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  Mi-35 attack helicopter
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  H145M utility helicopter
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  CH-92 combat drone
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  HQ-22 long-range air-defence missile system
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  Pantsir medium-range air-defence missile system
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  2K12 Kub medium-range air-defence missile system

The Serbian Armed Forces are composed entirely of professionals and volunteers following the suspension of mandatory military service in 2011.

The Serbian Armed Forces actively take part in numerous multinational peacekeeping missions.[7]

Country	Mission	Number of personnel
Cyprus	UNFICYP	1 staff officer, 2 observers, 6 non-commissioned officers and 37 infantry
Central African Republic	MINUSCA	3 staff officers, 2 observers, 68 medical infantry
Central African Republic	EUTM RCA	7 medical infantry
DR Congo	MONUC	2 staff officers, 2 doctors and 4 technicians
Lebanon	UNIFIL	8 staff officers, 5 national support element and 164 infantry
Liberia	UNMIL	1 officer as military observers
Mali	EUTM Mali	3 medical infantry
Middle East	UNTSO	2 officers
Somalia	EUTM Somalia	Medical Corps team including 1 staff officer, 1 doctor and 3 medical technicians
Somalia	EUNAVFOR	4 OHQ staff officers, 1 OHQ non-commissioned officer, 2 FHQ staff officers and 12 members of AVPD

• Military history of Serbia
• Military ranks of Serbia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military of Serbia.

• Official website
• Ministry of Defence
• Official recruitment site