New Hangar for the New Serbian Air Force Aircraft
Monday, 23.12.2019 | Stories from Units
Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilović, visited a new aircraft hangar and battery station at the “Sergeant-Pilot Mihajlo Petrović” Airport in Niš today. The new hangar will house H145M and Mi-35 helicopters recently delivered to the Serbian Air Force.
Air Force and Air Defense Commander, Major General Duško Žarković emphasized that 2019 has been a very significant year for the Air Force and Air Defense.
— Significant from the point of view of the Air Force and Air Defense, but also from the point of view of equipping, because in 2019 we have equipped the Air Force with multi-purpose H-145M, Mi-17 and Mi-35 fighter helicopters, but the year is also significant for infrastructure facilities. Today we toured a new building, a new hangar with a battery station that fully provides the conditions for housing the equipment we purchased and for maintaining the helicopter. It is important to point out that, along with the construction of the hangar, it has also been equipped. It is a pleasure for all people in the 119th Mixed Helicopter Squadron, as well as in the 161st Battalion for security of the airport, because after 20 years they have finally received a modern facility that can provide them with the conditions for accommodation, maintenance and operation of the facilities, General Žarković said.
As pointed out by the Commander of the 161st Battalion for the security of the airport, Major Nemanja Pantelić, until 1999 there were seven hangars at the Niš airport, and in March 1999 all seven hangars were destroyed.
— After 20 years, we finally have one such facility constructed, a facility which will serve for the maintenance and storing of newly purchased equipment, as well as the assets used over the previous period — said Major Pantelić, adding that people who work on maintaining the newly purchased equipment , as well as the assets used over the previous period, will now be more motivated because, as he pointed out, they have worked outdoors over the past 20 years, in the snow, rain and ice, and this will be an additional motive for their forthcoming work.
Talking about the benefits of the new hangar, Commander of the 119th Mixed Helicopter Squadron, Major Ivan Becić emphasized that in addition to maintenance, it also serves to accommodate new equipment that is sophisticated and requires storage indoors.
Captain Ivan Aleksić said that the hangar was intended to house and maintain aircraft in the first and second levels of maintenance. According to him, the hangar was built to the highest world standards, which makes it easier to maintain helicopters.
