Serbia will acquire MBDA Mistral MANPADS Man-Portable Missile System from France.

On the occasion of the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Serbia July 16, 2019, MBDA announces the signing of a contract for the acquisition of Mistral 3 short-range air defense systems by the Ministry of Defence of Serbia. With this first European missile order, Serbia becomes the 32nd customer country for the Mistral missile and the 10th country invited to join the Mistral user club.

MBDA Mistral MANPADS MAN-Portable Air-Defense System launcher unit of the French Army mounted on a military truck. (Picture source Army Recognition)

This acquisition allows Serbia to benefit from the shared user experiences from the many forces operating the Mistral in Europe and to contribute to the definition of the future developments of the weapon systems based on this missile.

The contract is for the acquisition of Mistral missiles, launchers for dismounted soldiers, related equipment and logistics, and the provision of technical and material assistance for the integration of the Mistral missile on the PASARS vehicles of the Serbian Armed Forces.

As the latest generation of Mistral family today in service, Mistral 3 features very high resistance to infrared countermeasures and a capability to engage air targets presenting a low thermal signature, such as missiles and UAVs.

Attending the contract signature, Eric Béranger, CEO of MBDA, said: "We’re proud that this contract far exceeds just material supplies. Serbia is invited to join as a new member of the Mistral user club and becomes a new partner for MBDA. But above all, this contract is the first milestone of cooperation that we are going to build together with Serbia whose security objectives are similar to those of France and of the European Union.”

MISTRAL MANPADS is a very short-range air defense weapon system, firing the MISTRAL, latest generation fire-and-forget missile. The Mistral missile is able to engage a supersonic target flying at 3,000 meters of altitude. Mistral is being used for point defense, ship self-defense, defense of mobile units and air-to-air engagements (ATAM).