NATO delegation visits Military Technical Institute

BELGRADE - Patrick Auroy, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, visited on Friday the Military Technical Institute (VTI), Serbia's leading scientific and research institution for research and development of weapons and military equipment.

Auroy, who headed a NATO delegation, spoke to Zoran Djordjevic, state secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Defence, who said that he is pleased that the ministry's cooperation with NATO has been intensified over the past two years.

In particular, this was achieved through Serbia's involvement in the work of the Conference of National Armaments Directors, its bodies and work groups, the website of the Serbian Ministry of Defence quoted him as saying.

Djordjevic pointed out that the Ministry of Defence intends to maintain the existing level of cooperation with NATO in the field of defence technologies and that there is a tendency of taking the cooperation to a higher level in specific segments.

After the meeting, the NATO delegation was given a tour of the VTI's development capabilities - the T-38 Trisonic Wind Tunnel, the laboratory for dynamic stiffness testing and laboratories for testing metal materials, textiles, leather and footwear.

The VTI's fundamental task is research and development of new and modernisation of existing weapons and military equipment for all branches of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Its tasks also include research in specific military-technical areas that serve as the basis for programmes of developing new weapons and military equipment.

Development of new and modernisation of existing weapons and systems is also one of the VTI's tasks, as is participation in implementing tasks and programmes in the area of...