Demonstration of the Capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces “Sloboda 2019“

The demonstration of the capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces “Sloboda 2019” (“Freedom 2019”)took place today at the “Pukovnik-pilot Milenko Pavlović” (“Colonel-Pilot Milenko Pavlović”) Airport in Batajnica, marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in World War II.

The officials present at the “Freedom 2019” demonstration included President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medevedev, the Serbian Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Maja Gojković, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin, Ministers in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilović, Representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, BIA (Security Information Agency), Representatives of the diplomatic and military-diplomatic corps, religious communities, numerous guests and citizens of the Republic of Serbia.

The President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, rated today’s capabilities demonstration, exercise, effort and work invested with “vrlo dobro” (“outstanding”).

— I wish to thank you for everything you do for your country, to congratulate you on the Day of Liberation of Belgrade from fascists; we should always protect our libertarian values ​​and traditions and especially, dear veterans and you who are standing in line up today, you who were defending Serbia 20 years ago, I wish to thank you so very much for all that you have done for our country. Thank you dear soldiers, thank you dear friends for these weapons and assets that are becoming increasingly more numerous and more modern by the day. Serbia will continue to protect its libertarian tradition; we are capable of preserving our skies, our country and our people ourselves. Long live free and Independent Serbia — President Vučić said.

At the Batajnica airport, included in the demonstration“Freedom 2019”, the capabilities of part of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces equipped in line with the“Project 1500+” and donated military equipment from the Russian Federation were presented, along with a ceremonial defile of units and capabilities, a part of which is from the development and the result of the effort of our experts from the Serbian defense industry.

The demonstration included over 2.400 members of the Serbian Armed Forces, 100 combat and non-combat vehicles and systems and some 25 aircraft, and was preceded by days and days of preparation and practice.

Commandant of demonstration of capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces “Freedom 2019” was Deputy Commander of the Air Force and Air Defense, Brigadier General Željko Bilić.

In the first part of the program, the capabilities of a part of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces to conduct Counter-Terrorist Operations, Combat Search and Rescue, Air Combat Support to the units of the Land Forces and protection of forces were shown.

Guests could see the actions of special teams, armored combat vehicles “Lazar-3”, “Hamvi” vehicles, armored reconnaissance vehicles“BRDM-2MS”, police combat VPB M-86s, unmanned self-propelled platform “Mali Miloš” and “Gazela” helicopter, as well as the anti-terrorist team air-landing from the Mi-8 helicopter.

Combat Search and Rescue Operation,including highly trained and well-equipped Special Brigade and Air Force and Air Defense forces has shown the firepower of the fighter-bomber aviation and combat helicopters. In that segment of the demonstration, viewers could see “Supergaleb G-4” aircraft, Mi-17 multi-purpose helicopters, “H-145M” helicopter in which evacuation was performed, “Gama” helicopters, “Orao” (“Eagle”) aircraft in hedgehop, as well as “MiG-29” aircraft in aerial combat display. The air combat was demonstrated by the youngest pilots who completed retraining in 2018 and advanced training in 2019 in the Russian Federation.

The display at the Batajnica airport continued with a ceremonial defile of Infantry, Motorized and Aviation echelons.

The Infantry echelon, under the command of Colonel Slađan Stamenković, consisted of 13 sub-echelons, and along the military airfield of the Batajnica airport defied sub-echelons of the cadets of the Military Academy, carrying Regimental Banners and Flags from the National Liberation War pertinent to units of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the Red Army that took part in the liberation of Belgrade, sub-echelon of the military veterans, members of Brigades of the Land Forces, members of the Special Brigade, the Military Police, as well as soldiers doing volunteer military servicewith the September 2019 generation.

The veteran sub-echelon consisted of those who participated in the wars of the 1990s, of the 1998 anti-terrorist operations, and of participants in the defense against the 1999 NATO aggression, while the commander of the sub-echelon was the retired Brigadier General Stojan Konjikovac, who fought in the Battle of Paštrik.

Looking up at the sky, viewers could also see the flight of the Air Force and Air Defense units.

In the Air Force and Air Defense Fighter-Bomber and Fighter Aviation sub-echelon in the skies above the Batajnica airport viewers could see the flight of “Super-Galeb G-4” school-fighter planes, the attack aircraft “Orao” and the “MiG-29” fighter jets intended for fighter and interception maneuvers used for airspace control and protection tasks.

Visitors of today’s display had the opportunity to see helicopters Mi-35 from the Russian Federation, and also helicopters “H-145M”, “Mi-8” and “M-17”, as well as helicopters “Gazela” and “Gamma”.

Following the Infantry and Aviation echelons, the Motorized echelon participated in the defile, which included vehicles and military assets usedby the units of the Serbian Armed Forces and assetsin line with the “1500+” project, for which development and manufacturing is performed by the Serbian Defense Industry. The commander of the Motorized echelon was Colonel Vladan Milosavljević.

Viewers could also see the modernized Russian Federation T-72 Tank, which will also become part of assets of the Serbian Armed Forces units in the coming period.

Within the eight echelons, there was a sub-echelon of BRDM-2MS armored reconnaissance vehicles equipped with modern thermal imaging and sighting tools, while the fire control system enables fighting in motion. Introduction of these combat vehicles featuring respectable maneuverability, firepower and ballistic protection at level 3+ has significantly added to the advanced operational capabilities of the Land Forces.

Sub-echelons of police combat vehicles “VPB M-86”, sub-echelon of special multipurpose motor vehicles “Hammer”, sub-echelonof multipurpose armored combat vehicles “Lazar-3”, mixed sub-echelon of combat and off-road vehicles containing multipurpose armored vehicles “Miloš” and new ATVs “Zastava”.

As part of the mixed sub-echelon of unmanned and aeronautical platforms, were remotely operated unmanned platforms “Mali Miloš”, an unmanned aerial vehicle “Vrabac” (“Sparrow”), as well as combat, reconnaissance and jamming drones.

The next sub-echelon consisted of 155 mm self-propelled howitzer cannons“NORA” B52 M15, which are included in the armaments of the Serbian Armed Forces units and the self-propelled howitzer “Aleksandar”, as well as a universal mobile artillery station (Upars) and a modified mobile air defense missile system “Igla” (“Needle”).

In the display of the sub-echelon of the new and modernized rocket artillery systems, viewers could see the BOV KIV artillery vehicle, modernized “Oganj digitalni” (“Blaze Digital”), self-propelled multi-barrel launcher “Šumadija”, self-propelled multi-barrel missile system “Tamnava” intended for fire support of the Land Forces units, system “Pasars” and the “Žirafa”(“Giraffe”) radar system.

More than 15.000 citizens were present at today's display at the Batajnica airport and had a unique opportunity to see in one place part of the units of the Serbian Armed Forces, Air Force and Air Defense aircraft, combat and non-combat vehicles, as well as the assets, weapons and military equipment used by members of our Armed Forces for performing their tasks.

Visitors to today’s display could also see three new Mi-17 helicopters and another H-145M at the Batajnica airport, which have recently further strengthened the operational capabilities of our Air Force.

75 years ago, on 20 October 1944, a 1.287-day long German occupation of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, ended with a major victory for the combined units of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the Red Army.