Serbia shows new helicopters and indigenous defence developments

The Serbian Armed Forces (SAF) showed their military capabilities during the ‘Sloboda 2019’ (‘Freedom 2019’) demonstration held on 19 October at Batajnica Air Base, Belgrade. These included three Mi-17V-5 and the second H145M helicopters delivered to the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense (RV i PVO) three days earlier.

The SAF showed its military capabilities during 'Sloboda 2019', held on 19 October at Batajnica Air Base, including its Mi-17V-5 and H145M helicopters. (Serbian MoD)

The first unarmed H145M joined RV i PVO in the search and rescue configuration (SAR) in June. The remaining three H145Ms will feature Airbus Helicopters’ HForce modular weapons package and are scheduled for delivery by the end of the year. Two H145Ms are already in service with the country’s interior ministry, out of the total of four on order for the ministry.

The KVZ-manufactured Mi-17V-5s arrived in transport/assault configuration with four external weapon racks, countermeasures dispensers, and armour plates protecting the cockpit and transmission. One of these features a hydraulically driven rear loading ramp, while the other two have traditional, manually operated and removable clamshell doors allowing fast conversion for fast rope insertion operations.

The RV i PVO now has five Mi-17V-5s, the other two of which were delivered in 2016 in the baseline transport configuration with rear loading ramps, plus an Mi-8C built in 1981.

Apart from the new acquisitions, ‘Sloboda 2019’ also unveiled previously unreported Serbian defence projects. An unmanned quadcopter system was shown in jamming and weaponised configurations, the latter with an electro-optics housing and four unguided M80 Zolja (Wasp) disposable 64 mm rocket-propelled grenade launchers.