Serbian Armed Forces
The Serbian Armed Forces is the military of Serbia.
The President of the Republic acts as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while administration and defence policy is carried out by the Government through the Ministry of Defence. The highest operational authority, in charge of the deployment and preparation of the armed forces in peace and war, is the General Staff.
Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime.
The Serbian Armed Forces consists of two branches: the Serbian Army and the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence.
History
Serbia has a long military tradition dating to early medieval period. The modern Serbian military dates back to the Serbian Revolution which started in 1804 with the First Serbian Uprising against [Ottoman Serbia|the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman occupation of Serbia]. The victories in the battles of Ivankovac, Mišar, Deligrad and Belgrade, led to the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1817. The subsequent Second Serbian Uprising of 1815–1817 led to full independence and recognition of the Kingdom of Serbia and weakened the Ottoman dominance in the Balkans. In November 1885 the Serbo-Bulgarian War occurred following Bulgarian unification and resulted in a Bulgarian victory. In 1912 the First Balkan War erupted between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League. Balkan League victories in the Battle of Kumanovo, the Battle of Prilep, the Battle of Monastir, the Battle of Adrianople, and the Siege of Scutari resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its remaining Balkan territories per the Treaty of London. Shortly after, the Second Balkan War broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with the division of territory, declared war against its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested an armistice and signed the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, formally ending the war.Serbia's independence and growing influence threatened neighboring Austria-Hungary which led to the Bosnian crisis of 1908–09. Consequently, from 1901, all Serbian males between the ages of 21 and 46 became liable for general mobilization. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914, Austria-Hungary implicated Serbians and declared war on Serbia, which marked the beginning of the First World War of 1914–1918. Serbian forces repelled three consecutive invasions by Austria in 1914, securing the first major victories of the war for the Allies, but were eventually overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Central Powers and forced to retreat through Albania to the Greek island of Corfu.
Serbian military activity after World War I took place in the context of [Yugoslav Army (disambiguation)|various Yugoslavia|Yugoslav armies] until the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the restoration of Serbia as an independent state in 2006.
Organization
The Serbian Armed Forces are commanded by the General Staff corp of senior officers. The general staff is led by the [Chief of the Serbian General Staff|General Staff (Serbia)|Chief of the General Staff]. The President of the Republic who is the Commander-in-Chief appoints the Chief of the General Staff on the suggestion of the Minister of Defence. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Milan Mojsilović.Service branches
The armed forces consist of the following service branches:Serbian Army
The Serbian Army is the land-based and the largest component of the armed forces consisting of: infantry, armoured, artillery, engineering units as well as River Flotilla. It is responsible for defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia; participating in peacekeeping operations; and providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.Serbian Air Force and Air Defence
The Serbian Air Force and Air Defence is the aviation and anti-aircraft defence based component of the armed forces consisting of: aviation, anti-aircraft, surveillance and reconnaissance units. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Serbian airspace, and jointly with the Army, to protect territorial integrity.Command structure
Command structure of the Serbian Armed Forces is centered around General Staff as the highest command authority, and three separate commands: one for each of the branches and one responsible for training.General Staff
The Serbian General Staff makes strategic and tactical preparations and procedures for use during peacetime and war. Special forces are under direct command of the Chief of the General Staff. Organizational units of the Armed Forces subordinated to the General Staff are: Guard, Signal Brigade, Central Logistics Base, 224th Center for Electronic Action, Technical Testing Center, Peacekeeping Operations Center, as well as the Directorate of Military Police.Army Command
Army Command is responsible for unitary, administrative and operational control of the Army. Army Command headquarters is in Niš.Air Force and Air Defence Command
Air Force and Air Defence Command is responsible for unitary, administrative and operational control of the Air Force and Air Defence. Its headquarters is in Zemun.Training Command
The Training Command is responsible for providing basic and specialist training for soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers of Serbian Armed Forces as well the members of foreign armies. It also serves the role of maintaining the reserve regional brigade structure of the Serbian Armed Forces.Personnel
The Serbian Armed Forces are composed entirely of professionals and volunteers following the suspension of mandatory military service in 2011.Active personnel
There are 22,500 active members: 4,200 officers, 6,500 non-commissioned officers, 8,200 active-duty soldiers and 3,500 civilians in volunteer military service. It breaks down as follows:General Staff : 4,300Army Command: 13,200Air Force and Air Defence Command: 3,000Training Command: 2,300Reserve force
The reserve force is composed of an active reserve and passive reserve. The active reserve forces have 2,000 members and they are generally required to perform 45 days of military service per year. They are assigned to one of four reserve territorial brigades, each having active HQ, command company and logistics company predicted for rapid deployment in case of war. The passive reserve totals about 600,000 citizens with past military training or experience and is activated only in the events of war.Equipment
The Serbian Armed Forces has a wide variety of equipment, mix of older Yugoslav and Soviet products and new equipment, either domestically-produced from Serbian defence contractors or acquired from foreign producers.The inventory of the Serbian Army includes: 242 tanks, 96 self-propelled howitzers, Israeli-made PULS multiple rocket launcher systems and 60 Yugoslav-made M-77 Oganj multiple rocket launcher systems, 320 Yugoslav-made BVP M-80 infantry fighting vehicles, 80 domestically-produced Lazar armoured personnel carriers, 108 Russian BTR-80 amphibious armoured personnel carriers, some 130 domestically-produced MRAPs as well as around 30 pieces of domestically-produced PASARS-16 short-range air-defence missile system.
The Serbian Air Force and Air Defense has in operational use the following equipment: 13 Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter aircraft, 13 Yugoslav-made J-22 attack aircraft, 2 Spanish C-295 transport aircraft, 15 Russian Mi-35 attack helicopter, 15 German H145M utility helicopters, 5 Russian Mi-17 utility helicopters, Israeli Hermes 900 and Chinese CH-95 and CH-92 combat drones, Chinese HQ-22 and HQ-17 medium- and short-range air-defence missile systems, as well as one battery of Russian Pantsir short-range air-defence missile system .
Over the last several years, Serbia has embarked on an ambitious program of equipment modernization and acquisition. Whenever possible, the Serbian Ministry of Defence favors products that are manufactured in Serbia, such as: Lazar 3M infantry fighting vehicles, Lazar 3 armoured personnel carriers, M20 and Miloš MRAPs, Nora B-52 self-propelled howitzers, ALAS guided missiles, Lasta 95 training aircraft, Pegaz combat drones, Gavran 145 and Osica loitering munitions, Vrabac reconnaissance drones, and Zastava M19 assault rifles. Largest procurement of foreign equipment included: Chinese HQ-22 and HQ-17 air-defence missile systems; Israeli PULS multiple rocket launcher systems; Airbus H145M utility helicopters; Russian Mi-35 attack helicopters; as well as various missile and radar acquisitions, and drones. Also, various Russian electronic warfare systems were acquired: Krasukha, Moskva-1, and Repellent-1.
Significant acquisitions of military equipment are also planned in the near future. Purchase of 12 new French Rafale multirole fighter aircraft was announced in 2024 with the aim of replacing MiG-29 which will be in service until the end of the 2020s. In 2025, a $1.6 billion contract was signed with Israeli defence company, Elbit Systems, focusing on advanced command and control systems, electro-optical devices, and night vision.