Montenegro, Slovenia agree joint Belin UAS procurement

The Belin UAS, seen here in Slovenian service, will now be jointly acquired by Montenegro and Slovenia. (Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia)

The ministers of defence for Montenegro and Slovenia have signed an agreement for the joint procurement of C-Astral Belin unmanned aircraft system (UAS).

Announced on 30 August the bilateral agreement signed by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Montenegro, Krsto Perović, and the State Secretary of the MoD of the Republic of Slovenia, Damir Črnčec, will see the two former Yugoslav republics jointly procure fixed-wing UASs for military reconnaissance as well as aerial surveillance and monitoring.

“The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia intends to procure additional unmanned aerial systems for the Slovenian Armed Forces while the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro plans to procure unmanned aerial systems for the Montenegrin armed forces. To achieve this, both ministries have mutually decided to procure Belin unmanned aerial systems, along with associated equipment from C-Astral,” the Slovenian MoD said.

According to the manufacturer, the air vehicle has an endurance of up to three hours and can be controlled out to a distance of 40 km via a line-of-sight communications link.