Photos Serbian Military Photos

[Paya]

BRDM-2MSs donated by the Russian Federation:

These will not replace the older BRDM-2s in mechanized and tank battalions, but rather become a part of a separate reconnaissance battalion currently being formed. That battalion will be subordinate directly to the commander of the Land Forces, as they were left without battalion-sized recon units once the Special Brigade (itself currently being reformed to separate 63rd Parachute and 72nd Special Operations Brigades) was subordinated directly to the General Staff.

 

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One of the mechanized battalions of the Fourth Brigade in the Gound Security Zone:

 

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Engineers of the Second Brigade with the new Chinese equipment doing... something:

 

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Reservists training:

 

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Lardasses of the 38th Mechanized Battalion being fat:

 

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Soldiers from the Reconnaissance Company of the Fourth Brigade wearing some very stylish bandannas:

 

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Reservists, all dolled up in their new uniforms for the Minister of Defence, training:

 

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A platoon of the 41st Infantry Battalion of the Fourth Brigade training with Lazar 3:

 

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The 63rd and the 72nd near the Kosovo Administrative Line:

 

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Belgrade Police Brigade, part of the newly reformed Posebne jedinice policije (lit. Special Police Units), a sort of an auxiliary group of police units, meant to alleviate some of the burdens of the Gendarmerie and the Anti-Terrorist Unit, as well as support them:

 

[Paya]

Soldiers of the 72nd Special Operations Brigade in Kosovo in 1999. It says so in the captions at least, though this looks to me like the plateau the Albanians call Presevo Valley, and the village below looks suspiciously like Oraovica. If so these photos were made anywhere between 1999 and 2001.

Paratroopers of the 63rd Parachute Brigade in Kosovo:

 

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Kosovo 1998.

 

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Kosovo 1999.

 

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Also Kosovo 1999:

 

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Southern Central Serbia, 2000:

 

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Southern Central Serbia, 2001:

 

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Again, 2001:

 

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After the insurgency ended, a few incidents and terrorist attacks between 2002 and 2006 required the attention of the Army and the cops, mostly the former:

 

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Special Operations Unit (JSO) during the insurgency in the Presevo Valley. In the village of Miratovac:

 

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In and around Presevo. Both of these are from 2001, I think.

This unit has a very unusual history, btw. Organized by the State Security Service of the rump Yugoslavia during the breakup of the old one, it was used to train and equip various special units of the Serbian armies and police forces fighting in Bosnia and Croatia. It also trained and equipped the infamous Serbian Volounteer Guard, better known as the Arkan's Tigers. Once the war(s) ended, it picked up the best survivors of those units, and so, in 1996, the Special Operations Unit was formally established.

It was equipped with a variety of gear. Grizzlies and YPRs captured in Bosnia, repurposed and up-armored civilian Hummers, Mi-24V and Mi-17 helicopters (two of each), along with locally produced and modified IFVs and APCs. It fought in Kosovo, famously lifting the siege of the village of Kijevo and in the Presevo Valley. In 2000, it was deemed that the State Security Service should not have their own special unit, so it was transferred under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. In 2001, it protested the orders to be involved in the arrest of officials wanted by the Hague (by parking armoured vehicles around their base and on the approaches to Belgrade and by having its members strutting around in full combat gear). Many of its high-ranking officers were (allegedly) involved in organized crime and the assassination of Prime Minister Djindjic in 2003.

After the assassination, the unit was formally abolished. In actuality, it's name was changed to Counter-Terrorist Unit (not to be confused with the Anti-Terrorist Unit) and attached to the Gendarmerie (that's them on the fifth (along with the lone MP) and sixth photos in post #78). Most of its members stayed on, along with their equipment. In 2007 it once again became an independent unit of the Ministry of the Interior, and remained such until in 2016, when it was incorporated into SAJ (the Anti-Terrorist Unit).