The Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, says that the American “Javelin” missiles are expected to reach Kosovo in a short time.
He adds that the country has executed the payments based on the planned plan and that the “Javelin” system will be in the inventory of the KSF very soon, but he did not specify a date due, as he said, to the confidentiality of the process. Maqedonci emphasized that Kosovo already owns the Turkish “OMTAS” missile system, which is similar to the “Javelin” one.
The Minister of Defense, states that the Kurti government in the last three years has invested about 240 million euros in the purchase of weapons systems.
“We are in the process of purchasing Javelin, we have executed the payments according to the payment plan we have. We are in the process of procurement and it is now a matter of time and coordination when Javelin will come here. But we have also made procurements earlier of similar systems like Javelin, mainly with Turkey but also other countries.
We already have in the inventory of the KSF, the Omtas system which is similar to the Javelin system, it has the same method. The Javelin system will be in the KSF inventory very soon. I cannot give a specific time also because of the confidentiality of this process”, emphasizes Maqedonci.
He adds that in 2023, the KSF budget has reached the quota of 2 percent of the gross domestic product, which, according to him, is the goal to be achieved by all NATO countries.
“Within the three years of Kurti’s government, we have 239 million euros that have been spent on the purchase of weapons systems. Compared to the expenses that were made in the past, it is tens of times higher. We are continuing to accept additional budget from the Government of Kosovo, in addition to the increase in the budget that we have continuously. It should be noted that in 2023, the KSF budget has reached the 2 percent quota that is intended to be reached by all NATO countries, and many of them have not reached it.
This has come as a result of the increase in the budget that has helped the Government of Kosovo and Kurti’s focus on building defense capacities by investing in weapon systems. In this respect, we are continuing to make military purchases. In this respect, we make these military purchases through a system that we call state by state.
The Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense of a NATO country, identifies the acquisition opportunities of that country. Thanks to the continuous support, we have made purchases of weapon systems that were planned to be purchased at later stages”, says Maqedonci.
