Okolić wants Luna rockets to be destroyed by a Serbian company, not the US

Outdated and unusable ‘Luna’ missiles from the BiH Armed Forces' warehouse 'Krčmarica' near Banja Luka, have not been destroyed even after the consent issued by the BiH Presidency. The Republika Srpska officials see the culprits in the BiH Ministry of Defense, more precisely Minister Sifet Podžić.

But the story is entirely different. Mirko Okolić, BiH Deputy Minister of Defense explained that negotiations are underway with two specialized companies from Serbia and the United States, of which one will be selected for the job to be completed in the next three months.

As we find out, Okolic's preference is the company from Serbia and he wants to exclude the American company Tetra Teck from the selection process, which has all the capacities for this job to be done in Glamoč, so the whole process is delayed.

The Government of RS allegedly also passed a conclusion in which it emphasized the preference for the Serbian company, but subsequently denied the allegations for Patria.

‘The Conclusion of the Government of the Republika Srpska does not state that the destruction should be carried out by a company from Serbia, or anything similar, since the assets (rockets), as well as the responsibility for their delaboration are exclusively within the competence of the BiH Armed Forces’, said the RS Government.

And the conclusion in which they propose that technical solutions be found for security reasons for the destruction and delaboration of 10 rockets 9M21F2 LUNA, 544 mm, which are located in the ‘Krčmarice’ barracks, was passed on June 24, 2021.

‘With Item 8 of the Conclusion in question, the Government of the Republika Srpska instructed the Ministry of Economy and Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Trade and Tourism to inform the Presidency of BiH, the Council of Ministers of BiH, the BiH Ministry of Defense and the Commission for Conduct of Movable Military Property Surplus’, the RS Government stated for Patria.

‘Luna’ rockets are app. nine meters long, weighing close to 2,5 tons. Each has a warhead weighing 450 kilograms and a ton of solid rocket fuel.

‘A decision will be made soon as to who will destroy those rockets. We have two companies that will do that. The method of delaboration or destruction in an explosion will be applied, and our request is that it be done in the most ecological way possible, and that is delaboration, i.e. dismantling’, Okolić said earlier.

The last time the JNA fired a ‘Luna’ rocket was at the Kalinovik military proving ground in 1990, to test its effectiveness.