13.10.2020.
Minister Vulin: Exercise “Joint Action 2020” showed high level of competence and readiness of units of Serbian Armed Forces
- At the exercise “Joint Action 2020” we showed that all branches of our armed forces can respond and act at the same time. We showed how many new assets we have, and not only the functional models, but operational ones whose zero series have been introduced into our armaments and that our armed forces already know how to use - said the Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin on the programme "Focus" on B92 TV, talking about the exercise "Joint Action 2020" carried out by the members of the Serbian Armed Forces on the Pešter plateau, when asked to comment on the assessment that this exercise is the most important military exercise in the last 20 years and that "our armed forces could not carry out such an exercise even at the time of the Yugoslav People’s Army."
"The exercise showed not only the joint action of the armed forces, but also the joint action of the state and the military." When you have a Supreme Commander like Aleksandar Vučić who provides you with so many assets, who gives you such political support, you realize that the state is the one that stands behind the military and acts together with the armed forces. "
Minister Vulin assessed that it was important that the leadership of Republika Srpska attended the exercise, which speaks of the cooperation of all Serbs, adding that it is also proof "that the Serbian Armed Forces are the pride and guardians of peace of all the people living in the Balkans, and of course of "the Serbs who live in our immediate environment, not only in Serbia."
- The Serbian Armed Forces and the exercise "Joint Action 2020" showed how many new things we can do. We have a whole generation of pilots of "fighter" aircraft who have never practiced live firing, because a "MiG-29" fired an air-to-surface missile 21 years ago - Minister Vulin emphasized, adding that today we have a significant number of aircraft, that a large part of the assets shown at the exercise are the product of domestic intelligence and knowledge, and that our armed forces have shown how equipped and trained they are.
Minister Vulin said that we showed modern and strong armed forces, which are not only able to resist and fight, but are also able to "show joint action of all arms of service of our armed forces and defend our sovereignty."
Speaking about such large-scale exercise with such a large number of participants, with live firing and sequences that were performed simultaneously, the Minister of Defence pointed out that it went without any problems.
- It tells you how trained our people are. We were intensively preparing for this exercise on Pešter for about three weeks, but in truth we were preparing for it for three years, from the moment we ordered new uniforms for different units and new personal weapons, from the moment we provided "Pasars", from the moment President Vučić and President Putin managed to provide us with new "MiG 29" aircraft and President Vučić managed to provide us with a new "Pantsir" – that is how long we were preparing for this exercise and now we were finally able to carry it out. No one would have taken that risk if they were not convinced of the competence and readiness of our units. There are few militaries in the world that can do this on such a scale. This is usually done at the level of a company, battalion, rarely a brigade - Minister Vulin emphasized, adding that 2,800 people were together at the same moment and did what they would do in the war.
Speaking about the importance of the exercise, Minister Vulin pointed out that it is important that it provided us with trained officers, NCOs and soldiers, crews who worked under realistic conditions, fired a large number of projectiles and tried exactly what they would do in war, adding that such capacity must not be lost and we must do our best to enable these people to develop.
