PASARS-16 (

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

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 controller ...

and other projectiles. Based on the FAP 2026BS/AV

six-wheel drive Six-wheel drive (6WD or 6×6) is an all-wheel drive drivetrain configuration of three axles with at least two wheels on each axle capable of being driven simultaneously by the vehicle's engine. Unlike four-wheel drive drivetrains, the configurat ...

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 Military Technical Institute ( sr, Војнотехнички институт, Vojnotehnički institut; abbr. ) is a Serbian weapons and aircraft design institute, headquartered in Belgrade, and governed by the Serbian Ministry of Defence. It ...

. 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 d ...

, hydraulics and integration of the armaments being done by FAP and

PPT Namenska PPT Namenska ( sr, ППТ Наменска, PPT Namenska) is a Serbian manufacturer of arms, mortars, grenade launchers, unmanned ground vehicle, hydraulics and pneumatics, airplane parts and some complex weapons system including modernized M-77 ...

, 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 (bull ...

. 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 in ...

, during the 1970s Serbian arms manufacturer

Zastava Arms Zastava Arms ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Застава oружје, Zastava oružje) is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery, based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannon. It is the leading producer of firear ...

acquired a license from Bofors to produce the L/70 version. Ammunition for the autocannon is produced by Serbian company

Sloboda A sloboda ( rus, слобода́, p=sləbɐˈda) was a kind of settlement in the history of the Old Russian regions Povolzhye, Central Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for "freedom" and may be loosely ...

. In 2020 a new programmable

airburst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over a ...

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 isolat ...

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 Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

air-to-air missile The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...

. Modifications by the

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 The Serbian Army ( sr-cyr, Копнена војска Србије, Kopnena vojska Srbije, lit=Serbian Land Army) is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. History Originally established in 1830 as the Army of Pr ...

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