Thewesternbalkans
According to media reports from early 2024, Serbia may have received a second set of FK-3 air defense missile systems (out of a total of four purchased) from China.
The set of the first Chinese FK-3 battery was transported by 6 Chinese Y-20 military transport aircrafts on April 9 2022, through the airspace of Bulgaria, a NATO member country. It is unlikely that Bulgaria’s current government, eager to demonstrate its Euro-Atlantic commitment, will grant new permits for the transport of Chinese military equipment through the country’s airspace. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic recently admitted to difficulties in the supply of weapons to Serbia, due to the sanctions and especially in connection with the war in Ukraine.
There is still no official confirmation of the delivery of the second FK-3 battery to Serbia, but some media have published the flight schedule of two large transport aircraft of the UAE in the period 22.12.2023-02.01.2024 on the route Urumqi (capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China) – Abu Dhabi -Batainitsa airport (Belgrade). In the following days, according to social media, new flights of large transport planes from Abu Dhabi to Serbia were registered. It is possible that Serbia and China are using an alternative delivery option to avoid NATO airspace. The transportation of the FK-3 systems is possible only with the large Antonov 124 Ruslan cargo planes, which, apart from Russia and Ukraine, are owned by the specialized UAE cargo company Maximus Air.
On 30.01.2024, during a demonstration of military equipment in Belgrade, Serbian President Alexander Vucic made a significant comment that the country was “close to completing three FK-3 batteries”.
Comment: Serbia is the first country in Europe to receive the export variant of the Chinese FK-3 anti-aircraft system. The contract between China and Serbia for the purchase was already concluded in 2019 and the delivery has been paid.
Chinese FK-3 anti-aircraft missiles (an export version of the HQ-22 – equivalent to the Russian S-300 and the American Patriot), will be the most powerful anti-aircraft weapon of the Serbian armed forces and will significantly strengthen the protection of the skies over Serbia, along with already deployed Russian (obsolete Soviet) and Serbian air defense systems. One FK-3 battery can simultaneously fire 12 missiles.
Serbia buys from China not only FK-3 complexes, but also means for their protection. It has one Russian-made Panzir S1M close-range air defense battery, delivered in 2020 (the contracted two more batteries have not been delivered due to logistical difficulties related to sanctions against Russia). Therefore, Belgrade is looking at their Chinese alternatives FK-1000, FK-2000 and HQ-17(E). In recent years, Beijing has been promoting and offering for export the Chinese FK-1000/2000 family. An FK-1000 system costs about US$5 million and is not significantly (if at all) inferior to the Panzir.
A. Vucic pointed out already in September 2023 that the FK-3 batteries will be located in three locations, so as to cover the largest territory of the country. The 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Serbian Armed Forces (HQ is stationed at the “Banjica” Barracks in Belgrade) is armed with the newly acquired missile systems “FK-3” and has subordinate units in the garrisons of Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad and Kragujevac.
For now, the question is whether there will be a fourth FK-3 battery and how it will be delivered to Serbia?
