{"id":243895,"date":"2026-08-10T19:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/243895\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T19:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T19:17:25","slug":"serbia-and-israels-elbit-set-to-open-joint-combat-drone-factory-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/243895\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia and Israel’s Elbit set to open joint combat drone factory in September"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serbia plans to open a manufacturing plant with Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems in mid-September to jointly produce drones to modernize its defenses and bolster exports of unmanned systems and military equipment.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Belgrade, Serbia\u2019s populist President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 said over the weekend that Serbia will open a drone factory with Israelis around September 15 or September 20. Elbit declined to comment on further details when contacted by The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n

As part of the partnership, Elbit will hold a 51 percent majority stake in the UAV plant with Serbia\u2019s SDPR state weapons manufacturer holding the remainder. The facility, planned for the Simanovci industrial zone near Belgrade, is expected to include short-range attack combat drones, alongside the development and production of advanced unmanned systems designed to operate at longer ranges, and advanced electronic warfare systems.<\/p>\n

The Balkan country \u200chas been buying modern weapons and equipment from Europe, Israel<\/a> and China as it replaces Soviet-era technology and adapts its military strategy to conform with modern warfare.<\/p>\n

Serbia has become one of Israel\u2019s closest allies in Europe, though it is not in the European Union or NATO. In April, Vu\u010di\u0107 first announced plans to jointly produce combat drones with Israel.\u00a0In the same month, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar and Serbian Foreign Minister Marko \u0110uri\u0107 announced<\/a>, during a meeting in Jerusalem, a free trade agreement and the launch of a new strategic dialogue.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSign up for the Tech Israel Daily
\n\t\t\tand never miss Israel’s top tech stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

The joint venture comes after Elbit in August last year inked a five-year $1.64 billion defense contract with Serbia for the supply of its long-range precision strike artillery-rocket systems and AI-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, including personally operated drones for tactical and operational use.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 26, 2024. (Avi Ohayon\/GPO)<\/p>\n

The contract also includes defense products equipped with Elbit\u2019s advanced intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance, known as ISTAR, as well as communications and signal intelligence systems, and advanced electro-optical and night-vision systems.<\/p>\n

In early 2025, Serbia bought Israel\u2019s PULS artillery \u200csystems and Hermes drones manufactured by Elbit Systems for $335 million.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tHelp us report truthfully on social media\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform \u2014 from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.<\/p>\n

This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tSupport our work\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tSupport our work\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou’re a dedicated reader\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.<\/p>\n

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven\u2019t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.<\/p>\n

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serbia plans to open a manufacturing plant with Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems in mid-September to jointly produce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[21808,648,687,10885,15042,37,22827,3186,45100,180],"class_list":["post-243895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-aleksandar-vucic","tag-defense","tag-drones","tag-elbit-systems","tag-electronic-warfare","tag-israel","tag-joint-venture","tag-serbia","tag-uav-unmanned-aerial-vehicles","tag-weapons"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117072825176230814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}