Minister Vulin: The Serbian Armed Forces is ready to defend its land, air and water

- The Serbian Armed Forces is ready and capable of defending every part of our territory, regardless of whether it is the land, whether it is sky, or it is our water, our rivers, our lakes – Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said as he was visiting the cadets of the 140th and 141st class of the Military Academy, River Units module, that are on training on board Kozara special purpose ship.
 
According to Minister Vulin, members of the River Flotilla with their training and their attitude towards everyday tasks, give hope and confidence in the capabilities of the military.
- River Flotilla has shown its value and its importance in the catastrophic floods of 2014. Thousands of our citizens were saved thanks to the competence, equipment and organisation of the members of the River Flotilla. Today, thanks to the better organisation of the state and large investments initiated by President Vučić, catastrophic floods were avoided, but this does not mean that the River Flotilla can relax. That does not mean that we all should not think that the worst scenario is always possible. That is exactly why our cadets are preparing themselves and that is why they are fully prepared to respond to any challenge – Minister Vulin said.

Colonel Dragan Trifković, Acting Dean of the Military Academy, pointed out that the international cruising on inland waterways, on the Danube River, from Belgrade to Budapest and back, was a good opportunity for cadets of the 3rd and 4th year of the Military Academy to check in practice the theoretical knowledge they acquired so far.
The journey was 1,000 kilometres long. Cadets studied topics in navigation, both astronomical and terrestrial navigation, they studied ship and hybrid drives in a combination of diesel and electric drives, topics from tactics, use of weapons and all those jobs that are normally carried out shipboard: berth, sailing in, sailing out, boat anchoring and navigation service. In addition to cadets, we embarked the professors and instructors, and we also had the help of crew of the Kozara command ship – Colonel Trifković said.

For cadet Jelena Sarić, at Rriver Units module, this was the first sailing on the Kozara special purpose ship and the first international navigation. As she points out, for her, the most important thing from this trip is the opportunity to experience in practice the work on the navigating bridge, in the pilot house and see how the boat is being navigated.
Nikola Starčević, a cadet of the 3rd year, also at Rriver Units module, describes the ten-day trip as a very useful experience also because they met with Hungarian cadets, got acquainted with their teaching contents and as they had opportunity for sharing experiences.
 
As the cadets returned from the international trip as part of the regular training programme, they were visited, in the company of the Minister of Defence, by Assistant Professor Lieutenant Colonel Goran Radovanović, Rector of the University of Defence, Major General Bojan Zrnić, Commandant of the Military Academy, Brigadier General Sinisa Kresović, Chief of Defence Minister’s Private Office, and Navy Captain Andrija Andrić, Commander of the River Flotilla.