New helicopters landed at the Batajnica Airport

Helicopters Mi-17 V5, recently purchased from the Russian Federation, have flown over from Nikola Tesla airport of Belgrade to Batajnica military airport today. Helicopters were welcomed by members of the 890th Mixed Helicopter Squadron.

Major General Ranko Zivak, Commander of the Air Force and Air Defence, greeted the first helicopter crew and congratulated Lieutenant Colonel Ivica Zivadinovic, Major Dragan Marjanovic and Sergeant Major Zoran Cogoljevic on the first flight. He wished them safe flights in the future, and said to Lieutenant Colonel Miroslav Zecevic, the unit commander, to record this day because it is a historical one for them and for the Air Force and Air Defence of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Zecevic, Commander of the 890th Mixed Helicopter Squadron, confirmed that this is a great day for the unit, as it will be a significant increase in its operational capacities and the level of training so that they will be able to respond to all tasks.

– We are to conduct the re-training. Our goal is to safely carry out the re-training of pilots and technical element, in order to fully introduce this type of helicopter into service. This will be our primary task for the first half of the next year – the commander of the squadron said.

Yesterday, quality acceptance of Mi-17 V5 helicopters was completed and, as of that day, the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces became the owner of the aircraft. The next step is internal procedure of introducing the new helicopters into arms and military equipment of the Serbian Armed Forces.