30.09.2010.

Marking the day of air defense missile units

Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac and Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletic attended today the ceremony marking the Day of artillery and missile air defense in the barracks "Mija Stanimirovic" in Nis.

The ceremony was attended by - the State Secretaries in the Ministry of Defence Zoran Jeftic and Igor Jovicic, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic, commander of Air Force Brigadier General VS Ranko Živak, representatives of state institutions and establishments of the city of Nis and family members of deceased members of the the units as well as the representatives of the air defense and other guests.

In his speech the Defence Minister expressed his satisfaction with the members of missile units and took this opportunity to congratulate the Day of this branch. On this occasion, special congratulations were sent to members of the legendary 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, and all officers and soldiers who have VS on the exercises at the training ground, "sable" in Bulgaria showed a high level of training and great results.

The Defense Minister aid his respects to all members of the air defense missile units who lost their lives carrying out assignments, while paying special tribute to their families.

Defence reform,said Sutanovac, has yielded excellent results. We finished the normative legal framework, have conducted organizational-mobilization changes in MoD and SAF and we have structured the army according to best international standards and in accordance with the missions and tasks defined by law.

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Furthermore, we conducted a full reform of military education and health and for the first time formed a Military Medical University, thus creating preconditions for the finalization of the University of Defence, where not only military personnel but also civilians will be trained. Let me remind you that we launched the development programs in production and overhaul of arms and military equipment, improved international military cooperation and most importantly improved the operational capabilities of the army , restoring the image of the military profession.

The completion of the professionalization of the army does not mark the end of defense reforms, but rather marks the end of one large-scale social reform, said Sutanovac, expressing particular satisfaction with the receiving 150000 applicants for 4000 openings.

-Unfortunately, the lack of financial resources and the economic crisis have slowed down the implementation of plans for procuring equipment and weapons, but we expect that in the future we will provide the necessary funds, the minister said, adding that MoD has purchased a certain quantity of arms and military equipment. - - By the end of this year after 17 years, we will be introducing new uniforms with digital patterns that the most modern armies in the world have, as announced by the defense minister.

- By maintaining complete overhaul of aircraft parts and helicopters we maintained the stability of continuous performance of aviation tasks, but our experience from the wars waged in recent years and new types of threats in the form of terrorist acts in the air space, have made it necessary to give particular importance to the development of forces and means to counter air operations. The General Staff has made the concept for developing the air defense system, which defines further development of this branch, fighter and aviation SSU units. This concept provides for the modernization and equipping with modern combat and air defense systems and aircrafts. The realization of this concept requires great resources, but I believe that we can get them to realize the tasks successfully. Sutanovac said. He stressed that the army is not only a consumer of the budget, but that through its activities we can help thousands of workers in Serbia to get employment and income.

At the end of the speech, the defense minister said that the results achieved in the defense strongly contribute to achieving the objectives of our foreign policy.

Sutanovac and his associates, attended the presentation of the unit’s capabilities and spoke with participants of the exercise recently held in Bulgaria.

In order to commend them for their high professionalism, the Minister presented acknowledgments to the following officers for performing a successful live shooting in “Sabla” training ground in Bulgaria: Brig. Gen. Jovica Draganic, Major Tiosav Jankovic, Captain Milan Stojanovic, and senior sergeant Dalibor Stosic, while SAF CHOD awarded Brig. Gen. Miodrag Gordic and Majors Igor Golubovic as well as Miki Milenkovic, including senior sergeant Vladimir Zivkovic.
In a press statement Minister of Defense made some remarks regarding exchange and transfer unaffordable property with local self-governments, stressing on the occasion:

- Both MoD and SAF will be part of development capacities at the area of Nis where, I hope, the plans of the local self-government regarding the Nis air field will be fulfilled, and cargo center will be created. However, I must remind you that, we, here in the top MoD management, treat our military property as a sort of a family heirloom, refusing to sell it for pittance, but only based on a real assessment of the tax department, as the minister explained.

It is no secret that thanks to the efforts of the Mod top management nine weapons factories have been revived, with now tens of thousands of people having a job and a salary, without the need to go on strike like in the previous period.

As regards the current security situation in the south of Serbia, he said that there was no greater indicator of possible security threats, despite the possibility of single and occasional incidents of violence.