08.10.2010.

COMBINED ENDAVOUR 2010

At Pasuljanske livade training ground the COMBINED ENDEAVOUR exercise was held.
The exercise was attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic, Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic, deputies and representatives of the Parliamentary Committee of Defence and Security, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletic, foreign military attaches accredited in Serbia, participants of the School of National Defense and numerous guests.

1,000 members of the Army of Serbia who participated in the exercise carried out tactical operations with live shooting, air and special forces, using fighter-bombers, helicopters, artillery weapons, armored combat vehicles and infantry weapons.

The aim of the exercise was to demonstrate the ability of tactical units in the field with emphasis on modeling and organization of combat forces to conduct operations within professionalized units.

Deputy Commander of Joint Operations Command SAF Brigadier General Milan Mojsilovic, who led the exercise, said that "Combined Endeavour 2010" aims to build the operational capabilities and determining the level of operational capabilities in the domain of the first and third missions of SAF.

Serbian President Boris Tadic expressed great satisfaction with the exercise, pointing out that the Army of Serbia had once again demonstrated the high level of readiness, training and mastery of skills relevant to the security of the country and the entire region.

He congratulated the Minister and General Miletic Sutanovac for successfully delivering the exercise.

The Serbian President said that the results of the reforms after a year were obvious stating that the army had now attained a new quality of professionalism and skills of its members.

"Professionalization of the Army increases the quality of our armed forces, but of all those who want to still be able to do their duty, which will be civil control of the military, while remaining a link between the people and the Army," Tadic said. He said that the basis for stability and security of the country was an excellent cooperation between the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defence.

Furthermore, as the President remarked the country would in future continue to equip the Army of Serbia and raise the standard of its members.

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, noting that this is the first exercise of this scope in which only professional soldiers participate said that the exercise had been carried out in unfavorable weather conditions, making it even more impressive.

Sutanovac said that Serbian Army tends to be organized according to the best practices and is open to cooperation with all countries interested in cooperation.

"The Serbian Army strives to follow the best standards that exists in the world and that is the NATO standard," he said. Adding that the Ministry of Defence currently has cooperation with more than 55 countries, he recalled that in the past few years over 35 agreements on cooperation had been signed during his term in office.

"If someone in this country has been successful in establishing successful cooperation with foreign countries, it is the army and the police," said the minister.

The Defense Minister said that the Army and MoD were willing to cooperate with all the countries in the world who want it.

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that the members of the army of Serbia, had successfully performed exercise, thus demonstrating that the reform of the defense and security had yielded good results.

Dacic stressed that the exercise showed that Serbia has a respectable armed forces able to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, stressing that the cooperation between the two ministries, as well as the army and the police was now very good and much better "than it was in some of previous periods.