30.01.2019.
Minister Vulin: The military is improving and modernising with assets we have produced ourselves
Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin has visited today the Technical Test Centre at Nikinci Testing Ground, where he and his associates attended the testing of new arms and military equipment.
Minister Vulin stressed that the year 2018 was a remarkable year for many things, especially when it comes to the introduction of assets into armaments.
- In 2018, we introduced 29 new systems into armaments, and before that, the record year was the year 2009, when only eight of them were introduced. We will continue to invest in the armaments industry, we will continue to equip our army, but in the first place we will strive to do this with the assets we have produced ourselves – Minister Vulin said.
According to him, unlike the time when the DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) ruled this country and when the military was destroyed in a planned and deliberate manner, when we had four MiG 29s, three of which were serviceable, and the fourth served only for spare parts to be taken from it, we now have 10 MiG-29s and four more MiG-29s were contracted to be delivered from Belarus.- Unlike the time in which we did not even have helicopters, we have two new Mi-17s, we will have three new Mi-17s more, and we are going to get four Mi-35s. At the end of March, I expect that the first H-145 will arrive, which is only the first of five, and there will be four more that we will provide for members of the MoI. Unlike those times, the Army is improving and modernizing – Minister Vulin pointed out.
According to Assistant Minister for Material Resources, Nenad Miloradović, PhD, today, in the Technical Test Centre we could see how new weapons are being tested.
- We had the opportunity to see how the quality and speed of testing are now increasing with the new technical assets by which the TTC is equipped. We are working with new digital targets – Assistant Minister Miloradović pointed out, adding that the Nikinci testing ground continues to invest and the capacities of the testing ground are being expanded, as it is the key institution both for the defence system and for the military industry, practically the sixteenth factory of military industry.
In addition to the Military Technical Institute, he added, all those involved in the development and production of arms and military equipment have to go through the TTC to close the testing circle.
- Our main goal is to speed up the equipping of the Armed Forces with the latest weapon systems. Here we saw testing of the three systems that are expected to enter the armament of the Serbian Armed Forces by the middle of the year, as well as some very promising and sophisticated systems that are expected to be introduced into armaments in about a year and a half, Miloradović said, adding that the process of testing is complex and involves various types of experiments and exposure of the weapon systems to the most complex climatic and mechanical conditions.He pointed out that today they could see the optical chambers in which the systems are exposed to very low temperatures and then to very high temperatures, and then their characteristics are tested, as well as the testing of the remote-controlled combat station on “Little Miloš”.
- I am pleased with how this is progressing and we expect that with this momentum we have now, along with all the current investments, the whole process would be accelerated, and with the additional stimulations given to the research personnel, we will make a significant leap in the equipping of the Serbian Armed Forces by the end of this year – Assistant Minister Miloradović concluded.
Chief of the Planning and Development Department of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, Colonel Milan Popović, pointed out that one of the main tasks of that Department, together with the TTC and the competent departments of the Ministry of Defence and the Military Technical Institute, is to introduce complex combat systems, arms and military equipment into the operational use of the Serbian Armed Forces.
He pointed out that part of the TTC in Nikinci intended for testing of arms and military equipment is a unique resource not only in the country but also in the region and it delivers “technical truth” and a study on testing the assets, which is crucial for deciding on the introduction of assets into arms and military equipment.
- In the previous period, we have made a series of activities to modernize this Centre, both in terms of infrastructure and procurement of modern measuring instruments and assets. This will enable us to bring an ambitious plan that we have in 2019 to an end and accomplish the task of introducing a greater number of assets than in the previous year – Colonel Popović said.Today, the Minister of Defence visited the artillery workshop of the Nikinci Testing Centre for Arms and Military Equipment, where newly procured and modern equipment used for the ground testing was presented, including a visual inspection of artillery barrels, a micrometer star for measuring the calibre of the barrel, as well as a radar for measuring the muzzle velocity of a projectile and a meteorological data collection device.
During the visit, Minister Vulin attended the presentation of designer and internal testing of assets from the development of the advanced AA system Bofors-PASARS, checking the shooting function after the realised drive of the remote controlled unmanned ground platform “Miloš”, as well as the test launch of 2T5 missile for closed-loop guidance.
Today's visit was also attended by the Chief of the Department for Defence Technologies of the Material Resources Sector, Major-General, Mladen Vuruna, PhD, and Director of the Technical Test Centre, Colonel Slobodan Ilić, PhD.
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