Vucic: Serbia to start making UAVs

NIKINCI - Speaking to reporters after attending a military exercise at the Nikinci training range in northern Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was pleased with the equipment displayed and its capabilities and announced that Serbia would start manufacturing UAVs.

"We saw our capabilities and abilities and how much more we need to do. I think you are satisfied in general terms - I am, because I thought we are lagging even farther behind. Once the war changed, everything changed and everything is different. When you look at those small drones... You cannot see them, let alone hit them," Vucic said.

"We saw how UAVs and uncrewed robotised machines operate. You saw something you had not been able to see in our country until now," he said, adding that Serbian-made Obad, Vrabac and Pegaz drones had made their debut at the drill, guiding Orao jets that successfully hit their targets.

He noted the significance of the Serbian-made PASARS air defence system. "I saw that PASARS was very important for General el-Sisi (Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi) when he visited (a weapons exhibition in Belgrade in July)," Vucic said.

He said Serbia was trying to develop UAVs with the private sector and that he hoped the UTVA aircraft factory would start manufacturing them in April.