15.10.2019.

Minister Vulin: FAP has entered a new technology league today

Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin has visited the “FAP Korporacija” (“FAP Corporation”) a.d. Priboj today, where a contract was signed between that company and the Defense Technology Department of the of Material Resources Sector of the Ministry of Defense to modernize the combat armored vehicle of the Serbian Armed Forces, better known as the BOV.

Having visited the assembly installation, where current stages of activities performed on vehicles for the needs of the Serbian Armed Forces were presented, Minister Vulin said that FAP and Priboj were Serbia’s strategic orientation and that FAP has entered a new technological league.

- Serbian Armed Forces are undergoing a process of being intensively equipped and strengthened. Its existing capacities, its existing capabilities, are being preserved but also significantly upgraded. The President of the Republic of Serbia and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, was very clear – the Armed Forces must be stronger, they must be more powerful, our soldiers must be provided with new and modern means, and for that we need FAP.

Minister Vulin emphasizes that Serbia, led by Aleksandar Vučić, will not allow FAP to cease to exist, nor to allow life in Priboj to be less than well, or not to develop and to improve.

- It is with great pride that I can say that FAP has entered a brand new technology league. It is a major improvement for us that FAP is capable of modernization and that, in its own capacity, fully upgrading the Infantry Combat Armored Vehicle; to be able to overhaul our “Ognjevi” (“Blazes”), always be the lead in a highly demanding market and always be able to fulfill every request of the Serbian Armed Forces – said Minister Vulin.
He added that by the end of this year, FAP will have contracts of about four million Euros with the Serbian Armed Forces alone, which guarantees the existence of FAP and the people of Priboj.

- It is up to FAP to work, and it is up to us to provide the funds, to ensure that this factory exists and operates. The Serbian Armed Forces will continue to equip intensively, to intensively grow stronger and always, first and foremost, rely upon the domestic manufacturer. We will always choose, whenever we can choose, the domestic wit and the local knowledge, because only what we produce ourselves really belongs to us and nobody can take it away from us. The Serbian Armed Forces have to rely primarily on domestic producers – said Minister Vulin.

According to Acting Assistant Minister for Material Resources, Nenad Miloradović, FAP has seven signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense, and the eighth signed today is the most significant in technological terms. With this agreement, FAP enters the system of integrators of combat armored vehicles – emphasizes Miloradović, adding that the basic structural solutions applied to BOV vehicles were intensively tested, trialed and that they met all the criteria of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Miloradović has announced plans to build everything needed over a wide range of armored wheeled vehicles for the needs of the Serbian Armed Forces at FAP and that the company will have the opportunity to integrate the work of numerous other subcontractors across Serbia, primarily experts from the Military Technical Institute and other developmental institutions in Serbia. For the modernized BOV-KIV armored vehicle, which should be one of the main assets for the commanders of infantry, artillery and reconnaissance units, Miloradović emphasizes that it is one of the most important projects of the Serbian Armed Forces and that these vehicles will be equipped with expensive command and information equipment, which should significantly enhance the capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces through application of its own systems.

The CEO of “FAP Korporacija”, Ranko Vuković pointed out that today, through contract worth 220 million dinars that was signed between FAP and the Defense Technology Department, the Serbian Armed Forces will receive modernized vehicles and FAP will have work. Vuković recalls that FAP has so far done numerous modernizations on the vehicles of the Serbian Armed Forces in terms of quality and safety, but that today, for the first time in the history of FAP, the integration and modernization of the combat system has been contracted. As he says, it is an outstanding recognition for the FAP workers that they have gained the trust of the Serbian Armed Forces to do a highly complex job.

Mayor of Priboj, Lazar Rvović emphasized that FAP is the basis for Priboj’s survival and development and that Minister Vulin’s visits demonstrate to this company his own and state’s commitment to helping Priboj. The new contract is encouraging news for the citizens of Priboj, Rvović said, adding that even when the citizens of Priboj lost faith in Priboj, the President of Serbia did not, but insisted that Priboj must be Serbia’s strategic orientation, that it must survive and be a good place to live in.
Member of Parliament from Priboj, Krsto Janjušević, thanked the President of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of Serbia for their continued efforts to make FAP closer to the military industry, to make it a competitive company that delivers quality and to ensure FAP workers have decent wages. He said that for FAP, equipping the Serbian Armed Forces armored combat vehicles with highly sophisticated technology is a task at a new technological level and that if FAP passes this exam, new contracts will follow.

The visit to “FAP Korporacija” also included Head of Department for Defense Technologies, Major General Mladen Vuruna, who signed today’s agreement on behalf of the Ministry of Defense and Brigadier General Siniša Kresović, Chief of the Cabinet of the Minister of Defense.