Serbia integrates Igla MANPADS into PASARS SPAAG

The Serbian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on its website on 9 August that its Vojnotehnički Institut (VTI, Military Technical Institute) has integrated the Igla man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) into the indigenously-developed PASARS 6×6 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG).

A PASARS with two Igla MANPADS attached to the turret of its standard Bofors L/70 40 mm gun was shown to the MoD leadership during testing at Batajnica airbase outside Belgrade. It was the first time PASARS was connected by digital link to the Serbian Army’s M85 Žirafa air defence radar - an Ericsson Giraffe M75 surveillance and target acquisition radar mounted on a Yugoslav-made FAP2026 truck - for command and control.

The MoD’s acting assistant minister for material resources, Nenad Miloradović, said that the M85 will be the main surveillance sensor of the PASARS battery and is also being modernised, with a focus on improving its software radar receiver capabilities.