TSAMTO, April 12. 6 VTA Y-20A aircraft of the PLA Air Force landed at Belgrade Airport on April 9 (b.n. 20041, 20042, 20045, 20047, 20049 and 20142), which presumably delivered a batch of medium-range air defense systems FK-3 (export version of the HQ-22 air defense system).
Six more PLA Air Force planes flew along the same route on April 10, probably with additional components of the SAM.
According to the Flightradar24 website, Y-20A landed in Baku (Azerbaijan) on the flight route, after which they crossed the airspace of Turkey and Bulgaria. A number of experts regarded the flight of PLA military aircraft with weapons over the territory of at least two NATO member countries as a demonstration of China's growing global influence. Serbian military analyst Alexander Radic said that in this way "China carried out a demonstration of force."
According to Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Hua Chunying, after the arrival of six Y-20 aircraft in Serbia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed in a telephone conversation to his Serbian counterpart Nikola Selakovic that China "will strongly support Serbia in protecting sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security."
The Serbian Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on the delivery reports. According to the China Global Times, three FK-3 SAMs were delivered to Belgrade. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic practically confirmed the delivery of the complexes, telling reporters on April 9 that next week he would present "new weapons systems that will become the pride of the Serbian armed forces."
Serbia will become the first operator of Chinese air defense systems in Europe. As reported by TSAMTO, Serbia's purchase of the FK-3 air defense system first became known in July 2020 from the annual report of the Serbian company Jugoimport SDPR. The complexes were ordered in 2019.
According to Liang Guolian, a military expert from Hong Kong, Serbia has purchased three FK-3 complexes in China, each of which includes three launchers, a radar, a control vehicle, support vehicles, auxiliary equipment and equipment, and missiles.
In 2020, US officials warned Belgrade against purchasing air defense systems from China, saying that if Serbia really wants to join the European Union and other Western unions, it must bring its military equipment in line with Western standards.
The HQ-22 SAM was developed by the Chinese Aerospace Scientific and Industrial Corporation CASIC (China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation Limited) and is designed to defeat aerodynamic and ballistic targets of various types (including UAVs and TBR warheads). The firing range is from 5 to 170 km, the height of hitting targets is from 50 m to 27 km. According to available information, the maximum firing range of the export version of the FK-3 is 100 km.
On April 9, Serbian President A. Vucic also announced that he was negotiating with France on the purchase of 12 new Rafale fighters and with another country on the purchase of 12 former Rafale fighters.
In addition, A. Vucic told reporters that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured him that Serbia would be able to buy armed Bayraktar TB2 UAVs.
