Serbian Armed Forces General Staff

The General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces performs duties in the following areas:

General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces reports on the work and state of affairs in the Serbian Armed Forces to the President of the Republic of Serbia or the Defence Minister.

General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, in accordance with the law and defence plan, organizes and prepares defence as well as secures the unity of the organization, preparation, and actions of the Serbian Armed Forces.

General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces conducts the regular inspection and evaluation of the operational and functional capabilities of commands, units and institutions of the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Chief of the General Staff commands the Serbian Armed Forces in line with the law and documents of commanding produced by the superior and is the highest professional adviser to the President of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Defence for preparation, organization, and the use of SAF.

The Chief of the General Staff makes rules, instructions, directives, decisions and orders for the execution of acts passed by the President of the Republic, i.e. the Minister of Defence and controls all the issues regarding commanding of the Serbian Armed Forces, and performs other tasks determined by law.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces is General Milan Mojsilović, who has been in this position since September 18, 2018. The Deputy Chief of the General Staff is Lieutenant General Želimir Glišović, who took office on July 7, 2023.

The internal organization of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces is built on a functional principle. The organizational units of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces are the Cabinet, directorates and departments.

The Office of the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces is a functional unit within the General Staff that performs analytical, operational-planning and administrative tasks for the needs of the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and his Deputy; plans, prepares and organizes work and protocol activities of the Chief and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Human Resources Directorate (J-1) is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces with the purpose to unite tasks related to personal, moral-psychological, and religious matters.

The Intelligence and Reconnaissance Affairs Directorate (J-2) of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces performs activities related to the intelligence of the Serbian Armed Forces, electronic warfare and electronic countermeasures of the Serbian Armed Forces, geospatial security of the defence system and support to the command of special units of the Serbian Armed Forces.

The 224th Electronic Warfare Centre and the Military Geographical Institute "General Stevan Boskovic" are directly subordinated to the Directorate.

The Operations Directorate (J-3) is an internal unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating, executing, and controlling the tasks and duties of the Serbian Armed Forces within its operational function.

The Peacekeeping Operations Centre is directly subordinated to the Operations Directorate (J-3).

The Logistics Directorate (J-4) is an inter-service organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for planning, organizing, and providing logistic support for the Serbian Armed Forces, commanding subordinate units, and building their operational capability.

The Central Logistic Base is directly subordinated to the Directorate.

The Development and Equipment Directorate (J-5) is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for equipping the Serbian Armed Forces with weapons and military equipment, making plans for scientific publishing activities, designing the organization and preparing the mobilization of the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Technical Testing Centre is directly subordinated to the Directorate.

The IT and Telecommunications Directorate (J-6) is an inter-service organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating, and controlling the telecommunication-information security of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Signal Brigade, the Command-Information Systems and IT Support Centre, and the Applied Mathematics and Electronics Centre are directly subordinated to the Directorate.

The Training and Doctrine Directorate (J-7) is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for the development and management of the training system in the defence system and for the development of doctrines and rules for the use of the Armed Forces.

The Simulation Training Centre is directly subordinated to the Directorate.

The Finance Department (J-8) is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for performing activities related to financial and material operations, and control over the management and use of funds in the Serbian Armed Forces.

The Civil-Military Cooperation Department (J-9) is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for civil-military cooperation in the defence system of the Republic of Serbia.

The Military Police Directorate is an organizational unit of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces responsible for planning, organization, coordination, and control of military police affairs and tasks for the needs of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.

Units directly subordinated to the Military Police Directorate are the Criminal Investigation Group, Military Police Training Centre, and Centre for Operational and Technical Support of the Military Police.

The development of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces is related to the development of the state. Namely, in 1835, the Department for Military Affairs was formed at the State Council. By the Decree "Organization of the General Staff" from 1876 the General Staff was formed with three departments: operational, geographical, and historical, and during the war it was reformed into the Supreme Command.

Changes in the state, from the organization and territory to the name, conditioned the changes of the General Staff itself. Thus, the General Staff of the Serbian Army changed its name from the General Staff of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, then the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army,  through the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the SFRY, the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, the General Staff of the Serbian Army and Montenegro up to present the General Staff of the Serbian Army. The transition from branch and service-organized General Staff to the functionally organized General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces in 2005 ensured greater efficiency and quality of performance in both functions and tasks.