Serbian Army Shifts Training Focus to Complex Conditions

Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Army General Milan Mojsilovic called a working meeting on August 12 at the Ribnica barracks in Kraljevo with commanders of operational units and special forces, where the focus of Serbian Army training for the coming period was set. Heads of several General Staff directorates also attended, the Ministry of Defense said.

The meeting, in other words, brought together the command level that carries out training, not just the level that plans it. Three items were on the agenda:

• the main training activities for the coming period
• the level of progress on key tasks and projects
• the security situation in the country and the region, to the extent it affects the Serbian Army’s operational capabilities

Initial capability reached, priority shifts

Mojsilovic said he was satisfied that units had, in a short time, taken on recently acquired systems and equipment and successfully reached initial operational capability. From there he drew the task he set before the commanders. In his assessment, the priority now is intensive training under complex tactical conditions.

The Chief of General Staff also spelled out what that training is meant to deliver: top-level readiness for the professional force and full use of the combat potential of modern weapons. It comes down, in other words, to the difference between a unit that has simply received new equipment and one that uses it to the full extent of its capabilities.

What is expected of the commanders?

In his closing remarks, Mojsilovic gave concrete direction for further work, telling commanders he expects maximum delivery on development projects in line with the priorities that were set. This was the most operational part of the statement, since it concerns not the plan itself but the deadline and the responsibility of each individual commander.

He also praised members of the Serbian Army who, as he put it, serve their homeland with dedication and professionalism. He added that the army faces important tasks and challenges it must be ready to answer, without specifying what those are.

Procurement continues

Mojsilovic said that, with strong backing from the state leadership, the modernization of weapons, military equipment and ammunition would continue, along with the strengthening of the Serbian Army across all areas.

The Kraljevo meeting thus tied together two things that statements usually keep apart, procurement and training, placing both in the same sentence about readiness. What was not disclosed were timelines: neither for the individual development projects, nor for the period in which units with new equipment are expected to move from initial to full capability.

The security situation in the country and the region was mentioned only insofar as it affects the Serbian Army’s operational capabilities, without further explanation. The meeting was not held at General Staff headquarters in Belgrade but in the garrison town of Kraljevo, with the commanders who carry out the training themselves.