REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Chinese military equipment has strengthened the Serbian armed forces significantly, its deputy prime minister told Chinese state media, in particular an air-defence system and drones. Vucevic said China's FK-3 medium-range anti-aircraft missile system and its CH-95 and CH-92A UAVs had "undoubtedly" been among the most important defence system Serbia had acquired. Serbia bought the FK-3 surface-to-air defence system, similar to Russia's S-300 or the U.S. Patriot system, in 2019. Both the United States, and Russia, which traditionally supports Serbia, have said they are monitoring the situation. Vucevic said Serbia would enhance its capabilities to protect its independence but did not spell out whether it would acquire more Chinese military equipment.

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Persons: Milenko Pavlovic, Zorana, Milos Vucevic, Vucevic, Xi Jinping, Aleksandar Vucic, China's, Liz Lee, Robert Birsel Organizations: Serbian Army, REUTERS, Rights, Global Times, China's, China's FK, West, FK, U.S ., NATO, Thomson Locations: Serbian, Batajnica, Belgrade, Serbia, Rights BEIJING, China, Beijing, Russia, Kosovo, United States