"Lightning strike" - Vučić: We are not interested in conflicts VIDEO / PHOTO

"Lightning strike" - Vučić: We are not interested in conflicts VIDEO / PHOTO

The combined tactical exercise with combat shooting "Lightning Strike 2021" - the largest in the last few decades, began today at the military range in Pester.

"Heroes from Košare are with us today. Among them are seven of them who are from the territory of Montenegro, and they were in Košare. Thank you for being here with us," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at the beginning of his address.

The strength of our army will be drastically increased and changed in the next nine months, announced President Aleksandar Vučić, estimating that the growing strength of the army also shows the strength of the state because, as he said, that would not be possible without greater financial strength.

After the military exercise Lightning Strike on Pešter, Vučić said that the state would continue to invest in our army.

"We are not interested in threatening anyone, we are not interested in conflicts, wars, but we are interested in being able to always defend our country and people. Nothing more than that, nothing more beautiful than that, nothing more honorable than that" , the president said.

He thanked the members of the Serbian Army who, as he says, performed the exercise fantastically and pointed out what everyone could see today.

In that sense, he stated that for the first time in our sky today, eleven MiG-29 fighters could be seen, of which eight "shoot" with air-to-ground missiles, and three that did not shoot, but were completely modernized and possess radars that can spot things up to 110 kilometers away and better than the others.

Vučić says that this gave the hunting aviation of Serbia a special force that we were never close to.

Also, four G4s, 25 fighters or bombers could be seen in the air at the exercise, which until a few years ago, the Air Force had four or five of those, of lower quality.

"What we realized is that we have to work on and strengthen unmanned aerial vehicles. We have already procured something, we have ordered new ones, we will order more," Vucic said.

He emphasizes the special satisfaction that the KFOR Commander also attended today's presentation of the exercise, and says that Serbia must cooperate with KFOR units. When asked by journalists about Kosovo, he said that Serbia's position has not changed and will not change. When it comes to the conversation with Angela Merkel, he states that a big conference will take place on July 4 and 5.

"We will talk about everything," he adds and explains that every conversation with her is of exceptional importance for our country.

Every day that Serbia strengthens and grows, attacks and pressures will be more and more present, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, pointed out today.

Asked about the claim of the former leader of the People's Party and vice president of the Parliament of Montenegro that he decides whether the Democratic Front will overthrow the government of Zdravko Krivokapic, he said that it is obvious that anyone who speaks against him feels important.

"I said earlier that when two sharks sail into a Boka Kotorska Bay, following a big ship, it's my fault. I don't know who he is or which party he represents. I am not interested in who will rule there, but I will always be interested in the position of the Serbian people," he said.

He said that he had heard meaningless accusations, and that there would be more. As for the People's Party in Montenegro, he stated that it was once a big party, but they destroyed it. In the end, he expressed his gratitude to the members of the Yugoslav Army from Montenegro who defended our country in Košare.

He pointed out that Britain has a big problem with new strains of the virus, and that is why he appeals to all citizens to be vaccinated. When asked how realistic it is that the delta strain will arrive in Serbia, he answered:

"It has already arrived, but we expect to spend a month or two in peace," he says. 2.337 members of the Serbian Army and the Ministry of Defense are participating in the exercise on the topic "Strengthened tactical group in conducting an offensive operation", of which 1.224 are members of the Army.

Before the start of the exercise, President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, received the report of the Captain of the Armed Forces, Danilo Manojlović. In addition to President Vučić, the exercises are attended by the President of the Assembly of Serbia Ivica Dačić, the Chairman and the Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Nebojsa Stefanović, as well as other ministers in the Government of Serbia.

The biggest exercise that has taken place in the last few decades is to show the determination and firepower of the Serbian Army to respond to challenges, risks and threats to Serbia's security, cooperation of joint forces in performing complex fire tasks and crisis situations, and combat capabilities of weapons.

The joint tactical exercise with combat shooting is performed under the assumption that the enemy's armed forces carried out armed aggression with coordinated activities and temporarily occupied the southwestern part of Serbian territory.

The most modern means of the Army, as well as the combat systems developed by the domestic defense industry, show the firepower and the ability to maneuver in front of the state leadership.

The crews of T-72 MS tanks present to the public for the first time combat capabilities with the use of modern opto-electronic and sighting systems with which this combat vehicle is equipped. The modernized armored combat BRDM-2M, which recently arrived from the Russian Federation with tanks, are also performing together.

The task of the armored units is to break the defense of the enemy forces with strong fire and decisive maneuver. The role of combat security is mechanized infantry on "Lazars 3", "Milos", "MRAP 6x6" and "NTV", vehicles that are a product of the domestic defense industry.

There are also armored personnel carriers BVP-M80A and BOV.

Fire support in the offensive operation is provided by 155mm Nora B-52 self-propelled howitzers, 128mm self-propelled multi-barrel rocket launchers digitized, 128mm "fire" M-18 modular self-propelled multi-barrel rocket launcher battery, "Morava" launcher and 122mm self-propelled howitzers "modernized as well as 120mm mortars.

The power of action on targets in the airspace and low-flying aircraft is shown by the artillery rocket battery "armor" S-1, two batteries of the hybrid artillery-missile system "PASARS" and as well as light air defense systems "Needle" on NTV vehicles, and the system "Arrow" 2M .

The self-propelled rocket battery of the modernized CUBE system will also show the maneuver and the position for action. After the aggression, enemy forces equivalent to two combat groups, with the strength of two infantry battalions, organized the defense on the line: Sjenica - Nova Varos - Cajetina - Bajina Basta and expect to bring new forces from the depth of the operational schedule to maintain the line.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army ordered the Army to carry out an offensive operation in cooperation with the Air Force and Air Defense, the 72nd Special Operations Brigade, the 63rd Parachute Brigade and part of the modernized funds from the Defense Ministry's defense industry development program.

The Air Force and the air defense defended the fighter, bomber and transport aircraft, as well as helicopter units that were waiting for the command to take off and act at the "Pester" temporary range at the "Colonel Pilot Milenko Pavlovic" and "Morava" airports.

The modernized "MiG-29" fighter will take off from the airport in Batajnica and on the final day of the "Lightning Strike" will perform the tasks of establishing dominance in the airspace and patrolling, and by order of the exercise commander, it will be ready to act on targets on the ground.

"Eagle" type planes will take off from the military airport in Ladjevci with the task of supporting the ground operation from the air. The aircraft will operate on the ground with "Maverick" guided missiles and FAB-250 air bombs of great destructive power. The "G-4 seagull" school fighter will also operate on the ground.

The efficiency of the action on the armored targets will be shown by the Mi-35 helicopter with "assault" missiles and unguided S-8 missiles.

The skill of the action of the "Malyutka" missiles will be demonstrated by the crews of the "Gamma" helicopter.

Airbus helicopters X-145M, Mi-8 and Mi-17, as well as the An-26 transport plane, will play a role in several sequences of complex assault operations. Reconnaissance of the enemy's combat schedule from the air will be performed by Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Ć-92 and "Sparrow".

The image from RPAS Ć-92 is distributed to the command post using a telecommunication-information system that is integrated into the mobile switching node, and real-time exercise commands are available. According to the commander's decision, that aircraft will also be able to operate with laser-guided missiles at targets in the enemy's combat schedule.

A specific role in the exercise will be played by the N-62T "Super Seagull", which will pull the "Offshoot" target, which will be fired at by a 40mm PASARS cannon battery.