By Igor Bozinovski
Serbia intends to acquire three Airbus Helicopters H215 heavy-twins for operation by its interior ministry.
Deliveries will begin in 2021, running until the following year, says interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic.
Airbus Helicopters
Belgrade has existing commitments for nine H145M light-twins, split between its air force (five) and interior ministry (four); an initial aircraft was handed over in December.
Those H145Ms destined for the air force will feature the manufacturer's HForce modular weapons system, which will also feature locally developed armaments including unguided 80mm rockets and a podded 12.7mm machine gun.
Airbus Helicopters has already signalled a deeper co-operation with Serbia's aerospace industry and is working with Batajnica-based Moma Stanojlovic on a number of maintenance and component manufacturing initiatives.
However, the Serbian air force will this year also receive several Russian-built rotorcraft: three Mil Mi-35M attack helicopters and a pair of Mi-17V-5 twin-engined transports.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
