01.05.2023.
New issue of “Odbrana”
The May issue of “Odbrana” is dedicated to the Serbian Armed Forces Day. It opens with a text about the Serbian Armed Forces capabilities demonstration held at the military airfield in Batajnica, symbolically entitled “Granite 2023”. The exceptionally rich and attractive programme left numeours visitors with an impression that the Serbian Armed Forces were getting stronger each day. We have seen 2,300 pieces of armament and military equipment and sixty aircraft, many of which were designed by Serbian engineers.
This year’s celebration of the Serbian Armed Forces Day began with the best defence-related reasearch paper award ceremony, and the award winners were Colonel Asst. Prof. Ivan Pokrajac, Ph.D. from the Military Techincal Institute and Dr. Milica Rajović from the Military Medical Academy, about whom you can read in this issue. When the military go out to the field to show their expertise and capabilities, it means that they have undergone hours, days and years of training. We have decided to include in this issue dedicated to the Serbian Armed Forces Day, an article about the Army Training Centre based in Požarevac.
Since the Guard is the “mirror image of the Serbian Armed Forces”, we have visited its members as their Unit Day approaches, to see the state of affairs in this elite blue unit. Also, in the History section, we have given an account of the history of the Guard.
The Arsenal section includes an article covering the domestically produced sniper rifles.
A text about the exhibition entitled “Serbian Military Flags from the First Serbian Uprising till the End of First World War” mounted by the Military Museum to celebrate the Serbian Armed Forces Day, reminds the readers about the tokens of honour and glory – loyalty to the military flag is a holy duty of every soldier.
The Global section deals with water, because access to and control of water resources can be a major source of conflict between nations, potentially leading them to war.
On April 5, the Department of Military History of the Strategic Research Institute, in collaboration with the Department of Social Sciences of the Military Academy, held a round table "FRY and the Challenges of Military Professionalism" as part of the research project entitled "Development of the Professional Military Organization in Serbia 1804-1990: Experiences and Lessons Learned". The views of the participants in the round table are summed up in the Occasions section.
People - trained, educated, innovative, morally and spiritually aware and ready to wear the uniform - are the backbone of the military, giving it its main strength and power. Every issue of "Obrana" features stories about them, especially the holiday issues. This issue contains an article about the safest drivers at the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in 2022; we present Colonel Željko Obradović (ret.), longtime commander of the Sombor-based First Training Centre, and now president of the Organization of Reserve Military Officers of Vojvodina. Lieutenant Colonel Branko Savić from the Aviation Medical Institute and RSM Dragiša Matić from the Training Command’s Air Force and Air Defence Training Centre share their experiences from peacekeeping missions.
We also remind the readers of RSM Miroljub Janićijević (ret.), an experienced paratrooper, who died at the Koritnjak airfield near Niška Banja during preparations for the season of paragliding and parachuting competitions.
