PASARS-16 (

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

n: ПАСАРС-16) is a Serbian mobile hybrid short range air defence system intended for the protection of infantry, armoured mechanized and artillery-missile units from low flying aircraft, cruise missiles,

unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

and other projectiles. Based on the FAP 2026BS/AV six-wheel drive general purpose off-road military chassis, the armoured rotary turret mounted at the rear of the vehicle is armed with a single barrel Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and one or more

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s linked to a modernized M85 Žirafa radar.

Development

PASARS-16 is designed by the Military Technical Institute. Serial production started in 2019, with armoured turret being constructed by

Zastava TERVO Zastava TERVO ( sr, Застава ТЕРВО, Zastava TERVO), short for "Zastava Terenska Vozila" ( sr, Застава Теренска Возила, Zastava Terenska Vozila; English: "Zastava Terrain Vehicles"), is a Serbian automotive and ...

, hydraulics and integration of the armaments being done by

FAP FAP may refer to: Technology and industry * FORTRAN Assembly Program, the macro assembler for some IBM mainframe computers * Fair Access Policy, a term for a bandwidth cap, limiting Internet usage * Femtocell (Femto Access Point), a small ...

and PPT Namenska, and final assembly being carried out by Srboauto.

Gun

The PASARS-16 main armament is the Bofors 40 mm

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bulle ...

. Designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located ...

, during the 1970s Serbian arms manufacturer Zastava Arms acquired a license from Bofors to produce the L/70 version. Ammunition for the autocannon is produced by Serbian company Sloboda. In 2020 a new programmable airburst ammunition containing 1100

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

pellets was reportedly developed for use by the PASARS-16. The PASARS has been spotted with a laser rangefinder and day/night sighting system.

Missiles

Mistral

Total of 18 sets with 50 French Mistral 3 missiles were procured by the Serbian Armed Forces in 2021 and planned to be integrated on PASARS-16.

RLN-1C and RLN-1C/170

The PASARS-16 uses RLN-1C missiles i.e. modified Vympel K-13 (R-13M) short-range, infrared homing air-to-air missile. Modifications by the Military Technical Institute were made to improve the rocket's propulsion block, in order to effectively launch the missile from the ground along with integration of a more powerful warhead with a modern proximity fuse and a modernized infrared homing system that directs the missile to the target.

9K38 Igla

Operators

: 18 in service with the Serbian Army.

References

External links

{{Commons category, PASARS 16
"Giraffe" radar and "PASARS-16" Demonstration Video - Serbian Ministry of Defence (2020)PASARS-16 3P Product Demonstration - Serbian Ministry of Defence (2020)
Military vehicles introduced in the 2010s Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons of Serbia Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons 40 mm artillery Military Technical Institute Belgrade