Vucic: Serbia's Drone Factory Opens Mid-September
Vucic said at a Belgrade press conference the Simanovci drone factory could open around September 15 or 20, a joint venture in which Elbit Systems holds 51 percent and Jugoimport SDPR 49 percent.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced today at the Palace of Serbia that the drone factory being built with Israeli partners will open in September, and for the first time put a specific window on the plan. The ceremony, he said, could take place around September 15 or 20. He made the announcement at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was visiting Belgrade that day.
“In September we are opening a drone factory with the Israelis,” Vucic said.
Along with the date came a detail not mentioned before: representatives of Ukraine have also been invited to the opening. Vucic’s explanation was that Ukraine already runs its own drone factories, so a plant of this kind is nothing new to them.
Asked by reporters whether he had discussed military cooperation with the Ukrainian president, Vucic denied it.
“We did not discuss any military cooperation today, not in this day and age. What happens once the war ends is a different matter,” the Serbian president said.
The line about the war ending is the only part of his answer that leaves any room, and it leaves that room explicitly for the period after a ceasefire, not for now.
A deadline that has slipped since March
Vucic first announced the factory on March 7, 2026, without naming the partner and with an estimate that production could start as early as April.
“We are soon opening the first factory for serious drones here in our country, very serious ones, the most serious production in the world,” he said at the time.
Between that announcement and today’s lie five months of a slipping deadline. April came and went without an opening, the name of the company later became public through reporting by BIRN and the Israeli outlet Haaretz, and the September date is the first one ever given with a specific day attached. That makes today’s announcement different from the earlier ones, but it is not a guarantee the plant will be running at full capacity by then, since what is planned is a ceremonial opening.
Who owns it, and where it is being built
Ownership is split so that the Israeli side holds control. Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense company, holds 51 percent, while Serbia’s Jugoimport SDPR holds the remaining 49 percent.
The plant is being built in Simanovci, about 30 kilometers west of Belgrade. According to documentation reviewed by BIRN, two models are planned: a short range, high payload drone with rotating wings, and a long range model, faster and more advanced than the Pegaz drone Serbia already produces, with a flight ceiling above six kilometers. Engineers from Utva, the SDPR owned aircraft factory, are also expected to take part in the project.
For the Serbian side, the point of the deal is not assembly but the transfer of knowledge, since domestic engineers are meant to work on the development as well.
How much has Serbia already spent on deals with Elbit?
The factory is not the start of the partnership but its continuation, and a costly one. In late 2024, Elbit received contracts worth 335 million dollars for PULS artillery systems and Hermes 900 combat drones, and in early 2025 Serbia was confirmed as the buyer. In August 2025, a far larger arrangement followed, worth 1.6 billion dollars, covering drones, long range missiles and electronic warfare systems.
Trade also runs the other way. Serbia’s exports of ammunition and weapons to Israel have grown 42 times since 2023 and reached 114 million euros by the end of last year, most of it channeled through SDPR.
Why the choice of partner is controversial
Elbit has for years been a target of criticism over its role in Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, named the company in a June 2025 report among those profiting from the war in Gaza. During a visit to Serbia in March, she described the country as one of Israel’s most committed allies, a characterization Serbia’s Foreign Ministry called inappropriate and an interference in the country’s internal affairs.
Such criticism has had measurable business consequences elsewhere. Spain canceled a contract worth about 700 million euros for an Elbit missile system last year after imposing an arms trade embargo on Israel. The setback has not dented the company’s bottom line: revenue last year reached 7.9 billion dollars, up 16.3 percent from the year before.
Elbit did not answer reporters’ questions about the Serbia factory, offering only a “no comment.” SDPR has not commented either.
The next test of the announcement is a short one, and it has a date. If the ceremony goes ahead in mid September, the guest list in Simanovci will show how much of the invitation to Ukraine was a diplomatic gesture, and how much the start of something more concrete.
