Briefing on Analysis of State of Affairs and Capabilities of Serbian Armed Forces for 2022

A regular annual analysis of the state of affairs and operational and functional capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces for 2022 has rounded off at the Guard’s Club, Belgrade, today, with a briefing conveying the results of the analysis to Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić. 

The briefing has been chaired by Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff General Milan Mojsilović, and it has been attended, beside Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević, by Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlić, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Minister of the Interior Bratislav Gašić, and most responsible officers of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces.  

Following the analysis, the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces has stated that that has been an opportunity to examine a lot of good things that have been done, taking into account all the imperfections as well and discussing additional acquisitions of arms and military equipment.

— We will have to pay more attention and commit further to obtaining new assets from the Serbian Defence Industry. Just like we delivered “Pasars”, “Lazars”, “Milošes” “Gvozdikas”, “Little Milošes” and unmanned platforms, our focus in the upcoming period will be on UAVs and drones, of domestic origin in particular, and on the investments in further growth of the living standard of SAF members — claimed President Vučić.

According to him, there is still a negative impact of the number of people leaving the armed forces, although this is the first time in the last two years, actually first time in decades, that the inflow exceeds the outflow. 

— We are not satisfied. And that is why we decided on the 25 percent increase in salary. On 15 February, on the Statehood Day, I will issue an order, as a Supreme Commander, after which the Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff will have a job advertisement published for the admission of young men and women to special operations units; we are going to receive up to 5000 persons. There will be admission, there will be additional strengthening and reinforcement of our distinguished special operations units; Level 1 – 72nd Special Operations Brigade, 63rd Parachute Brigade and Cobras units; Level 2 – within battalions of the Army and reconnaissance units; and Level 3 – in brigades, within the companies of reconnaissance units. So, we will have Level 1, 2 and 3 of these 5000 people, whose basic salary will exceed RSD 200,000, which means that with all the duty hours, overtime, etc, the salary will amount to more than RSD 320,000. It is with these huge salaries, too, that we wish to encourage young people to apply for SAF special operations units — stressed President Vučić.   

Serbian President has stated that today’s discussion also covered the negative impact of the war in Ukraine on us. 

— Since we are unable to import arms and military equipment as we planned and paid, and since we are unable to import spare parts, we need to focus as quickly as possible on our own forces. We will keep up the good work. We have examined the security environment, we have seen all the security risks, we have examined the strength of all others and compared it to ours and we will keep doing that — President Vučić concluded. 

After the briefing, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Vučević has pointed out that MOD is satisfied not only with SAF members’ conduct, ways of organization and capabilities, but also with their sense of morale and patriotism in the moments of crisis regarding the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija.

The annual analysis also covered and assessed the state of affairs and capabilities of the SAF in the year behind us, combat skills of Army, Air Force and Air Defence and Territorial Forces, as well the state of security in the country and environment which affects SAF operational capabilities. 

It has been concluded that the strengthening of SAF continued in 2022 according to guidelines by the Supreme Commander for the development of operational and functional capabilities 2019 – 2023, and that SAF performed all the assigned tasks and demonstrated in practice that the soldiers and officers were highly motivated, competent and ready to protect the country and citizens. 

While expressing gratitude to the Supreme Commander and Government of the Republic of Serbia for their strong support and commitment to further strengthening of SAF, the briefing was also an occasion to put forward the needs and proposals for further enhancement of SAF capabilities so that they could remain the factor of peace and stability and deterrent against external armed threats.