North Macedonia’s first live firing of its JLTVs armed with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace’s M153 Protector Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station took place at the Krivolak training range on 4 October 2024. (North Macedonian MoD)
North Macedonian Minister of Defence Vlado Misajlovski outlined the country’s defence priorities in an interview with national television station MRT1 on 30 June, including increasing defence spending from 2% to 5% of GDP by 2035.
He said North Macedonia would sign an agreement with the UK in July, under which the UK (together with the US) would help the Balkan country develop a new, revised National Defence Strategy and Strategic Defence Review (SDR) with new modernisation goals and projects in the incoming 10 years in line with spending 5% of GDP within the time frame.
Misajlovski listed North Macedonia’s priorities for the next 10 years, including building medium-range air-defence capabilities, acquiring more Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) 4×4 and Stryker 8×8 vehicles and various types of unmanned aerial vehicles, developing the domestic defence industry with foreign partners, developing capacities for maintenance and overhaul of military vehicles (in co-ordination with Slovenia and Montenegro for the JLTV), modernising barracks and vehicle parks, and storing equipment such as Mistral short-range air-defence (SHORAD) systems.
North Macedonia currently allocates 32% of its EUR330 million (USD388.3 million) budget to the acquisition of new weapons and military equipment, and it plans to continue to do so.
Misajlovski revealed that MBDA had informed the Ministry of Defence in June that there would be a delay in the delivery of 18 Mistral 3s on order from 2025 to 2026, with the company offering to pay penalties for this.
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