BELGRADE, April 15 (Reuters) – The Serbian army should create units with attack drones, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, as the Balkan country seeks to modernise its armed forces from its obsolete Soviet-era technology.
Belgrade has already bought modern weapons and equipment from Europe, Israel and China and it wants to adapt its military strategy to conform with modern warfare.
Serbia is military neutral and is balancing a partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union with its ties with Russia and China.
After meeting top military commanders in Belgrade, Vucic, the supreme commander of the army, said he had proposed the formation of units equipped with long-range attack drones and drones that hover over a strike area before flying into targets.
“In addition to the increased production of drones, which I expect to explode this year … we will significantly devote ourselves to the … digitisation of our army,” he said.
“I think that in this regard we will be one of the armies with the most pronounced interoperability and the greatest capabilities, not only in our region, but also wider than that.”
Serbia maintains a 22,500-strong army and in 2026 it allocated 3.3% of its GDP for defence expenditure.
Serbia’s rearmament has triggered criticism from Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, its neighbours and wartime foes from the 1990s, who see it as a threat to regional stability. Belgrade denies that.
Vucic’s comments come after the announcement of the creation of a joint Serbian-Israeli drone manufacturing plant a day earlier.
In early 2025, Serbia also bought Israel’s PULS artillery systems and Hermes drones manufactured by Elbit Systems for $335 million and in August 2025 it also purchased long-range missiles, drones and electronic warfare equipment for around $1.6 billion.
It has bought cargo aircraft and helicopters from Airbus and Chinese missiles and drones.
Belgrade also purchased Rafale jet fighters manufactured by France’s Dassault for 2.7 billion euros ($3.18 billion), to replace its ageing Soviet-made MiG-29 planes.
($1 = 0.8484 euros)
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alison Williams)
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