Vucevic: Serbia's skies to be more secure with Rafale jets

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Milos Vucevic said in the Serbian parliament on Monday he looked forward to an acquisition of French-made Rafale fighter jets as, alongside MiG-29 jets Serbia already had, they would make the country's skies even more secure.

Responding to We, The Voice of The People whip Branko Pavlovic, who said NATO countries could disable military equipment purchased from them "at the push of a button," Vucevic said such claims were untrue and that increasing the number of countries Serbia was cooperating with when it comes to the defence industry and arms purchases was a national interest "in view of what is going on in Kosovo-Metohija and the region, in view of the fact that some states are purchasing serious systems that could pose a threat to us and to which we will have to have an adequate response - above all, the HIMARS."

"You will see that, very soon, we will come out with new systems the Serbian Armed Forces will have at their disposal, not for the purpose of waging a war against someone but to deter those who are arming themselves and could use those arms against us," Vucevic said.