Serbian Army holds military exercise

The exercise began at 9 a.m., and the opening ceremony was attended by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and members of the Serbian government as well as representatives of Serbian Army and the Defence Ministry.

Eight thousand units are taking part in the exercise during which they will use more than 600 combat systems and 24 aircraft and helicopters, with around 125 tons of ammunition.

Serbian President Vucic said no one on the region could compare to Serbian Army and that only Romania has a bigger army. However, he said that Serbia’s biggest problem is the lack of recruits.

The President announced large military investments in 2019.

"When I became the Defence Minister, we had only one faulty MIG 29. Now we have eight MIG 29s and 10 aircraft in total. You’ve all seen the tanks… A total of 100 tanks are taking part in the exercise," Vucic said at the opening.

Next year, he expects Serbia to receive new, modernised, armoured vehicles from Russia and additional 30 tanks, as well as first drones from China, worth around EUR 30 million.