SAF Supreme Commander at Session of Expanded Board of Chief of General Staff
Monday, 23.6.2025 | News
President: We will have one of the most powerful small armies in the world
The Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, attended today, together with the Minister of Defence, Bratislav Gašić, a session of the expanded board of the Chief of the General Staff, at the Banjica 2 barracks in Belgrade.
After the session, chaired by the Chief of the General Staff, General Milan Mojsilović, President Vučić said that today's session was one of the pivotal and decisive meetings for the changes to come in the Serbian Armed Forces.
— Our Armed Forces have to be incomparably stronger. In the past year, more precisely, more than 10 years, but particularly in the past year, we did a lot to modernize and advance our Armed Forces. Today, we have a situation in the world in which law and justice have long ceased to exist, but there are no rules anymore and we must accept that and understand it well — said the President of Serbia.
He emphasized that being a member state of the United Nations or having your territorial integrity guaranteed by the United Nations Charter no longer means anything, owing to the behaviour of great powers that ”brutally trample on it as needed, inventing non-existent and some new principles”.
— And we have to get used to that. Accordingly — to improve the level of our defense capabilities. Everything we do — we do for the citizens of Serbia. It is not an issue of who is stronger, and who is not, but the issue of the highest interests of the citizens of Serbia, in order to be protected, safe and to feel secure — emphasized President Vučić.
According to the Supreme Commander, the good news is that there is a greater response for various units than expected, and the special units, as he pointed out, will soon have a manning level of more than 85 percent. He emphasized that the latest competition was well promoted in the media and added that a certain number of young people will become a part of the drone and anti-drone units, which will also have the status of special units. In addition, he praised a rather large number of candidates who have applied for pilots at the Military Academy.
— In the following two or three months, you will find out and see what we have purchased and produced. Today, taking into account technological advances, if the country were attacked by a more powerful aggressor, would it be able to provide an incomparably stronger resistance? The answer of those who know that best was that our resistance would be disproportionately or significantly greater than it was in 1999, and the answer of some was absolutely deterrent even for the most powerful aggressor, emphasized President Vučić, announcing a military parade in Serbia in mid-September, as part of the celebration of the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag.
The President said that it is going to be the greatest military parade ever organized here, that at least 10,000 soldiers will participate in various segments, and emphasized that not many countries have the opportunity ”to bring out 10,000 soldiers, especially not in Europe, and to demonstrate their specialties and level of competence”. In this regard, the President of Serbia expressed his belief that citizens will not be ashamed of the progress of their army and the progress of their country.
— We have a good, serious army that still has a lot to do and advance. Today, we made a decision to move towards the concept of establishing a digital army platform. This means integration. We will soon have large and powerful unmanned aerial vehicles that will have a wide field of view, a long-range field of view, and accordingly — everything that the aircraft sees, everything that people on the ground see — is also seen in the command rooms. And you no longer waste time on assessing a situation, reports, dispatches and so on — said the President of Serbia, adding that it will take four to five years to put it into practice.
As he emphasized, we will have one of the most powerful small armies in the world and ”we will never threaten anyone, but we will know how to preserve and defend our country from any potential aggressor”.
