Russia will deliver one Pantsir-S1 battery consisting of six missile systems to Serbia in this year.
“Russia and Serbia signed a deal on one battery made up of six Pantsir-S1 missile systems. The work on it is underway and will be completed in 2020,” a source in the defense cooperation sector was quoted as saying by Sputnik on Monday.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced the contract in October 2019, during Slavic Shield-2019 joint military exercise between the two countries. Russian S-400 air defence systems and Pantsir-S anti-aircraft gun and missile system were deployed in Serbia during Slavic Shield-2019, marking the first deployment of the systems in drills held outside Russia.
“We do of course have concerns not just about deployment of Russian military equipment on the territory of Serbia, but the possibility of Serbia acquiring significant Russian military systems,” Matthew Palmer, Deputy Assistant Secretary at US Department of State – Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told the Elsat television channel in November.
The Pantsir-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound NATO code name) is designed for protection against precision-guided air attack from low and extreme low altitudes. The mobile version of the Pantsir-S1 system includes a combat vehicle (up to six vehicles in a battery), surface-to-air guided missiles, 30 mm rounds, a transporter-loader vehicle (one per two combat vehicles), maintenance and training facilities.
