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World Aviation Defense & Security News - Serbia
 
 
Serbia approves acquisition of six additional Mi-17 choppers
 
Serbia`s government has approved acquisition of six Mi-17 transport helicopters, the chief of the General Staff of Serbian Armed Forces Ljubisa Dikovic told Serbian media on January 13. "The acquisition of six Mi-17 transport helicopters has been approved," Dikovic said, adding that the military also expected to get H145M armed rotary-wing aircraft by the Airbus Helicopters company.
     
Serbia approves acquisition of six additional Mi 17 choppers 640 001A Serbian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter
(Credit: Ministry of Defense of Serbia)
     
The Serbian Air Force already flies 10 Mi-8/17 multirole helicopters.

Dikovic also mentioned a plan to acquire new surface-to-air missiles and pointed out that the modernization of the Kub SAM systems was underway.

According to him, rapid response armored and scout units of the Serbian Army (Kopnena vojska Srbije KoV) will get 30 T-72S main battle tanks (MBT) and 30 BRDM-2 wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicles (ARV) that will be donated by Russia.

Dikovic said that Serbia would start modernization of the armor being operated by the military at an early date. "We will begin the modernization of the M-84A MBT and the M-80A infantry fighting vehicle to enhance their range, protection and penetration [of their weapons]," he told local media outlets.

The M-84A is a variant of the Soviet-originated T-72 MBT that is similar to the T-72M1 export-oriented tank. The M-84A features additional armor plates and a more powerful engine compared to the baseline model. The tank received the SUV-M-84 computerized fire control system and a batch of new sighting systems. The gunner`s seat is fitted with the DNNS-2 dual-axis stabilized combined day/night sight that integrates a laser rangefinder. According to the open sources, nearly 450 M-84A main battle tanks were manufactured between 1988 and 1991.

The BVP M-80A is the organic infantry fighting vehicle of Serbian mechanized troops. The vehicle is armed with a 20 mm automatic cannon, a twin launcher of Malyutka anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and a coaxial 7.62 mm machinegun.

     
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