18.03.2011.

Military Academy Day marked

Military Academy Day – 18 March has been marked today by a series of appropriate events. The Ceremonial Academy was attended by Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac, Chief of General Staff Miloje Miletic, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and persons from the cultural and public life of Serbia.

Congratulating the Military Academy Day, Minister Sutanovac pointed out that the accreditations received for educational and scientific research are evidence of high educational potential of the Military Academy and the Serbian Armed Forces.

- The establishment of Military University, where the Military Academy participates with two study programmes, provided support for the development of modern military education system which contributes to a great extent, with its three-stage structure, to exercising the functions of security, defence, and also to social and economic development of Serbia. The next step in the development of military education is the accreditation of specialist academic studies for the defence industry needs and course of the High Security and Defence Studies intended for the candidates who are envisaged for the highest state and military functions. Therefore we must have the ability to implement the standards set by the European Union in projects in the area of higher education and scientific research in Europe, Minister Sutanovac said and added that the defence reform, which has been conducted in Serbia for four years, is, according to all indicators, one of the most successful in any area in our country.

-We have adopted all normative and legal documents within the system and in the Serbian Parliament, which rounded up the regulatory and organisational framework. We have established a democratic and civilian control over the military and made it completely professional, which has put us among the countries with efficient, modern army and gave a homework assignment to those countries that wish to have such an army. We've improved the international military cooperation, so that today our army is considered an army of peace in the world, Europe and the region, Minister Sutanovac emphasised.

Minister Sutanovac said that the opportunities for employment in factories of defence industry and the defence system have increased in the previous period.

- The contracts that we have signed in the meantime brought considerable means to the military industry. It even enabled some cities to survive the crisis which our country faced with. Certainly, it is not enough. The European Union is one of the most important goals of our country, so that cooperation with those countries is one of our priorities. Our multilateral and bilateral military cooperation, and cooperation with the countries in the region contributes to the fact that there is no country in the world that does not cooperate with us, Sutanovac pointed out and said that our military is already participating in multinational peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the United Nations, and will soon take part in the mission under the auspices of the European Union, for the first time in our history, he said. He added that improvement of the system of personnel management and human resource planning and use of international civilian and military-specific standards in material resources are essentially important and practically has no alternative when it comes to exports.

- Procurement of modern weapons and modernization of growing weapons is also one of the priorities in the forthcoming period, the realisation of which requires adequate funding. We are expecting complete conversion of the Morava Airport, continuation of building warehouses for storing ammunition, and what is most difficult is to solve the housing problem. Over the past four years we have provided about 3,100 apartments, and I expect that this year will be a record one and that we will resolve thousands of housing issues. We are making all these efforts in order to achieve the goal to be reliable guardians of our national interests and responsible, desirable and clear partners in maintaining peace in a stable system of international security, Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac concluded .

At the Ceremonial Academy, Brigadier General Mladen Vuruna, Commandant of the Military Academy, presented the first plaque of the Military Academy to the Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac.

Welcoming those present at the Ceremonial Academy, Brigadier General Mladen Vuruna, Commandant of the Military Academy, pointed out that the Military Academy last year educated about 3500 students, cadets, officers and NCOs. The number of academic programmes has increased and new advancement programmes and joint training programmes with other faculties were introduced.

The Military Academy has 15 accredited academic programmes, four professional development programmes and 69 different courses – General Vuruna said, adding that the Military Academy is also a scientific research institution whose researchers are involved in five programs funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, cooperating with 19 universities and institutes.

The Military Academy is also proud of the success of its cadets at national and international sporting events. It has also a good cooperation with many similar institutions in the world, and the result is opening of the Centre for Simulation and Laboratory for distance learning, and initiation of joint academic programmes for the needs of the domestic defence industry.

The last year was marked by numerous international visits, and 60 students, 37 attendees at General Staff Advanced Training and 231 cadets travelled to different countries, from Norway to Egypt and from Spain to Turkey, said General Vuruna.

New PhDs at the Military Academy are Majors Boban Pavlovic and Radoje Bankovic, Lieutenant Colonels Sasa Veselinovic and Nenko Brklja?, Colonel Zlatan Jeremic and civilians Marija Samardzic and Nikola Gligorijevic.

New Masters of Science are Lieutenant Colonels Aca Randjelovic, Milan Kankaraš, Vladimir Tadi?, Sava Stankovic, Radoica Milunovic, Nenad Radovic and Dragan Kostadinovi?.

Diplomas were handed to them by State Secretary Igor Jovicic.

The best Department is Department of Military Mechanical Engineering, and the best teacher is Colonel Zlatan Jeremic, Head of the Department for Strategy. The best teacher in the Military High School is Radomir Stojic. The best scientific worker is Dr Milenko Andric from the department of military electronic systems. In the School of National Defence, the most sucessful student at the General Staff Advanced Training is Colonel Slaven Boškovi? with an average score of 10.00, and at the Command Staff development Major Cedo Sarac (9.83). The best cadet is Predrag Andric from Aviation and Technology Department (9.37), and the best cadet is Bojana Rakic from Military Electronic Engineering Department (9.08). The best high school student is Stefan Petkovic, with an average mark of 4.97.

Awards for Gratitude for a successful cooperation in the past year were given to the Technical Repair Bureau Kragujevac, Technical Repair Bureau Cacak, Central Logistics Base, 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade and Training Command.

The most successful at the Military Academy were presented awards by Major General Miodrag Jevtic, Rector of the University of Defence .

In the cultural-artistic program, choir of male and female cadets and music section of the Military Academy performed their programme.

As a part of celebrating the Day of the Military Academy, Brigadier General Mladen Vuruna, Commandant of the Military Academy, opened a painting exhibition of the art group of the Military Academy on the topic of "History of the Serbian people from Kosovo Battle until the end of the 20th century".