Serbia’s Vrabac Osica UAV Combination Offers Mobile Anti-Armor Strike Capabilities at Partner 2025.

Serbia’s Military Technical Institute paired the Vrabac short-range ISR drone with the Osica loitering munition,  shown on light Isuzu platforms, at the Partner 2025 defense fair in Belgrade

Serbia’s Military Technical Institute confirmed a combined Vrabac–Osica drone package on Isuzu platforms at the Partner 2025 exhibition in Belgrade. The setup pairs Vrabac for short-range reconnaissance and target cueing with Osica, a loitering munition using a shaped-charge derived from the M79 Osa, providing precise anti-armor strike from a light vehicle team.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The Vrabac reconnaissance UAV and the Osica loitering munition integrated on a light Isuzu vehicle at Partner 2025 in Belgrade. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Vrabac is a compact air vehicle intended for reconnaissance, surveillance, and monitoring of the airspace by day and night. The institute cites wildfire detection, surveillance of sensitive road corridors, and inspection of power lines and oil pipelines. Guidance is autonomous. Takeoff is automatic, either by hand launch or with an elastic rope depending on available space. In flight, the aircraft follows waypoints, can orbit over a designated point, and transmits stabilized imagery under camera control. Recovery uses a parachute or an airbag, with an emergency landing mode provided. The sheet lists a maximum takeoff weight of 9 kg, an operational ceiling of 300 to 500 m, endurance of at least 1 h 30, and an operational radius up to 25 km. The same technical box includes a line on munitions that mentions four 40 mm grenades of about 0.22 kg each. The sheet does not explain the functional link with the air vehicle, but since the entry appears in the Vrabac section it is reproduced as written.

Osica is described as an autonomous drone intended for action against opposing forces. The text presents it as a precision solution to defeat armored vehicles, using a shaped charge derived from the OSA anti tank system. To search for and engage targets, Osica carries a fixed ultra compact Full HD camera and a video processor. Target detection relies on artificial intelligence techniques, and the attack can be fully autonomous through video tracking. Takeoff is automatic from a light pneumatic launcher. At system level, Osica includes four air vehicles, one ground station, and one pneumatic launcher. Control is based on a flight computer developed by the Military Technical Institute, with equipment already proven on Vrabac. The institute notes that Osica can carry out missions with or through Vrabac, which suggests paired employment where one platform observes and the other delivers the strike.

Tactically, the set forms a small unit package carried on a truck, quick to deploy, and intended for local ranges. A patrol can hand launch Vrabac to look beyond a terrain mask or examine a road segment, then keep it over a point of interest. If a target that meets the rules of engagement appears, Osica is fired from the pneumatic rail, with video processing and assisted detection designed to reduce operator workload. Short ranges simplify links and keep the air vehicles close to the support truck.

Bringing two different solutions onto a single launcher creates a useful tactical switch at platoon or company level. The Vrabac sensor provides persistent observation, route search, and target confirmation, while Osica delivers the immediate terminal effect with a shaped charge. Sharing the same rail and the same fire control reduces idle time between detection and shot, limits logistics and training, and avoids multiplying specialized kits. The team keeps a common architecture, moves from one to the other without reconfiguring the console, and retains continuity of video data for identification and then engagement. This continuity shortens the decision loop, which matters when windows of opportunity are brief at choke points, road ramps, or in the vicinity of infrastructure.

Mounting the system on a light Isuzu type vehicle further strengthens the concept. It improves deployment speed, with pneumatic or elastic launch from the nearest area, while remaining self sufficient in power and communications. The 4x4 platform carries the four Osica vehicles, the ground station, and Vrabac spares, while allowing rapid repositioning to extend useful range, compensate for terrain, and reduce exposure to geolocation. Mobility protects the crew, widens the area of action without fixed relays, and enables short cycles: move, set up, launch, strike, displace. For a force tasked with covering long linear features or dispersed sites, this sensor effect pairing on a single chassis offers a cost utility balance that is difficult to obtain with separate systems.

Serbia invests in domestic solutions for autonomy and adaptation to internal security tasks. Across Europe, the routine use of mini drones has become established, while the spread of loitering munitions sustains demand for light, truck mounted strike options. Presenting this duo at Partner 2025 under the Ministry of Defence banner places it before regional delegations looking for systems that small teams can operate.