Serbia is striving to balance its partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union (EU) with its centuries-old religious, ethnic and political alliance with Russia and strategic ties with China, a major investor. “We have a significant number of those missiles, and we will have even more,” Vucic said in a live broadcast by Serbia’s state RTS TV, days after the first images of the missiles mounted on a Serbian plane leaked online.
Read: South Korea says it cannot stop US forces from redeploying weapons to Middle East
Vucic said the Serbian air force had adapted its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to carry the CM-400AKG.
Croatia – an EU and NATO member, and Serbia’s foe during the wars of the 1990s – has criticised the missile purchase as a threat to regional stability, an attempt to alter the military balance, and a sign of a growing arms race in the Balkans.
The CM-400AKG, manufactured by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), is a supersonic air-to-surface ballistic missile. It can carry either a 150 kg (330 lb) blast warhead or a 200 kg (440 lb) penetrator warhead and has a range of up to 400 km (248 miles).
It saw its first combat use during the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict, when Pakistan’s air force targeted an Indian S-400 air defence system.
Read More: EU threatens to pull Venice Biennale funding over Russia’s return
Vucic declined to disclose the price Serbia paid for the missiles, saying only it received a “slight discount”.
Serbia has allocated around 2.6% of its GDP for military expenditures this year.
In recent times, Serbia has purchased the FK-3 surface-to-air defence system – similar to Russia’s S-300 or the US Patriot system – and CH-92A combat drones from China, while at the same time buying 12 new Rafale fighter jets from France’s Dassault along with helicopters and cargo planes from Airbus.