Serbia signs a Military Co-operation agreement with Israel

Translated from todays “Politika” newspaper:
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Contract of military co-operation

Modernization of helicopters and productions of new weapons-
automatic rifles made of composite materials.

Tel Aviv, July 31st(Tanjug)

Ministers of defense of Serbia & Montenegro and Israel, Boris Tadic and Shaul Mofaz, signed today in Tel Aviv a military agreement between the two countries, and the specific points of this co-operation, according to Tadic, will be outlined in the upcoming talks between the military experts of Serbia & Montenegro and Israel.

Tadic, who is in an official state visit to Israel, is leading a delegation of Ministry of Defense, said in a statement to Tanjug, that in the centre of attention of talks with Mofaz was “examining possibilities for the development of joint military industry capacities”.

First of all, the contract will involve the joint upgrade and modernization of military helicopters, Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24, operated in large numbers by Serbia & Montenegro and other Eastern European countries, as well as the development and production of a new weaon – automatic rifle of composite materials, that will be produced in a Kragujevac factory “Zastava”.

Also, Tadic and Mofaz talked about the transfer of S&M officers for training in the Israeli Army and of adopting the Israeli training system for special operations units of Serbia & Montenegro army.

Ministers of defense of S&M and Israel especially analyzed the security situation in the Middle East and in South-Eastern Europe, most off all, in the Western Balkans, specifically paying attention to the problems of international terrorism.

According to Tadic’s words, such a transfer of experience and know-how can contribute to stop the spread of terrorism in the Middle East and in the Western Balkans.

Tadic, who yesterday, on the first day of his official visit to Israel, talked with managers of two biggest Israeli defense companies, Israeli Military Industry(IMI) and Israeli Aerospace Industry(AIA) , today visited the company that produces military equpiment and weapons, “Rafael” and privite avio-industry, “Elbit”, also, the produces of radar and telecommunications sistems, “Elisru” and “Motorulu”, whose centre for the Balkans is situated right in Israel.

With the representatives of Israeli Aerospace Industry, Tadic talked about transfer of technology, specifically, concerning the UAVs(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and the possibility that they will eventually be produced in Serbia & Montenegro.

His three-day visit, Tadic concludes tomorrow, when further visits to Israeli military industry companies are planned, as well as a visit to Jerusalem.
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Interesting…we’ll see what comes out of this.
I