13.09.2009.

Minister openes "Batajnica 2009" air show

In his address to numerous guests from Serbia and abroad as well as to tens of thousands of visitors, Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac expressed his pleasure at seeing delegations from far and wide coming to this air show “from China in the north to the United States of America in the west, to Algiers in the south and Norway in the north”. The minister welcomed all the participants from 14 countries who came upon the invitation to participate, as well as the Serbian air men, the air force alliances and associations who all took part in today’s manifestation.

– The activities at the international level and the results we have achieved so far in the reform of the defense system have shown that Serbia has a long-standing tradition in aviation which qualifies it for organization of such events. If only one boy or girl ever wish to become pilots of the Serbian air force, we will consider ourselves successful in our intent and I am certain that we will have more such manifestations on our hand sin the future”.

Recalling the distant past of a century ago when Serbia firs acquired three balloons, with Kosta Miletic as a pilot on his maiden flight under the name of “Serbia” launched the history of Serbian air force. Three years later, then Serbian armed forces established its air force. The Minister reminded the audience of the fact that as early as 1923, Serbia established its manufacturing of aircrafts.

– In the last 100 years or so of the Serbian air force, Serbia achieved remarkable results in air craft production. Today we are in the stage of rebuilding and modernizing the Serbian aviation. After a 20-year gap, Serbia is back with new air craft models. Our light training plane “Lasta” has already found its buyers abroad and I will be pleased to see it fly over the Batajnica skies today.

He stressed that at the same time there was the need to show the capabilities and advancements of the aviation industry. Sutanovac reminded that Serbia did not lag behind the world in this field, and in 1938 the first air show was organized in these territories.

– Today’s air show, which has gathered an unprecedented number of visitors and participants, has been organized by the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian armed forces with the support of the Ministry of the Interior and other ministries, as well as with the assistance of the Flight Control Department, the City of Belgrade, the Institute for Coins and Bank Notes Manufacturing, the Civil Aviation Directorate, Customs Departments, Aviations Association of Serbia and numerous legal subjects-companies, and air force lovers which provided their whole-hearted support to reaching this goal. He thanked all the media for helping the organization of the air show, thus helping bringing the air force closer to the Serbian audience and public.

After a long pause, Batajnica air field has been completely revitailized and we can safely say that it has met all the necessary safety standards and potential for the air traffic of Serbia. This manifestation revives the memory of the pioneering efforts of our first air men who invested their effort, and enthusiasm into a century-long development of the aviation. This is also an excellent opportunity for the citizens of Serbia to see the state-of-the-art air crafts and their operational capabilities.

In the end, the minister thanked everyone who were not flying today but were taking good care of the visitors, minding their safety and the technical operability of air crafts and air fields, as without these support people it would be impossible to organize this event.

Wishing the pilots a safe and successful flight he wished the visitors to enjoy today’s program, thus declaring this event open.

Air Force commander Brigadier General Ranko Zivak pointed out that besides our air men, there will be airmen from 14 countries with 26 air crafts, which ranks this air show as one of the top air shows in the world this year.