BELGRADE (Serbia), April 20 (SeeNews) – Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday the government plans to invest 43 million euro ($46.2 million) in state-owned defence companies this year.
The investment will allow Serbia to increase its exports of military hardware to 750 million euro in 2020 from 550 million euro this year, Vucic said at a meeting with managers of Serbian defence sector companies, according to an audio file posted on the government's website.
Under the plan, firearms and artillery manufacturer Zastava oruzje will receive 9.3 million euro by the end of May for the overhaul of its gun barrel production facility, while grenade launcher maker Prva petoletka - namenska will receive 3.5 million euro. Uzice-based ammunition and handloading components producer Prvi partizan will get 4 million euro for the construction of a new production unit and ammunition manufacturer Sloboda Cacak will receive 2 million euro to buy two vertical presses, Vucic said.
Serbia's defence minister Zoran Djordjevic has said the government plans to overhaul domestically the six MiG-29 jets which Russia is going to donate to the Serbian Air Force.
The overhaul can be executed at the Moma Stanojlovic aeronautical plant so that its workforce can be trained to perform such upgrades in the future.
($ = 0.930168 euro)