Serbia Buys Russian Pantsir-S Air Defense System

Serbia has placed an order for Pantsir-S anti-aircraft system, after Russia recently sent them to their country for a joint military drill along with S-400.

"An S-400 [long-range air defense missile system] is in our country because of the drills. And tomorrow I will go to look at it. Also, I am going to examine a Pantsir-S system on Saturday [October 26]. We have placed an order for it," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, was quoted as saying by TASS on Thursday.

"As you know, we have bought one Pantsir-S system, we have ordered it and we expect it in our country in coming future," Vucic said on Friday.

On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced deployment of a battalion of S-400s and a battery of Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile/gun launchers to Serbia's Batajnica air base to take part in the second stage (October 23-29) of Slavic Shield-2019 joint military exercise, marking the first deployment of both systems on foreign soil.

"The Russian air defense units with S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile/gun launchers have been airlifted by Russian military transport planes to the territory of Serbia to take part in the second stage of the Slavic Shield-2019 joint Russian-Serbian air defense exercise," the ministry said.

The first stage of the drill took place in September at the Russian Aerospace Force’s combat training center in the southern Astrakhan Region. Troops from both nations will practice detecting, tracking, identifying and destroying the entire range of a notional enemy’s air targets.