Serbia tests new battlefield tactics with Miloš V1 combat drone at Partner 2025.

Serbia displayed the Miloš V1 tracked unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) at Partner 2025 in Belgrade, a remote-operated platform armed with a 7.62 mm automatic gun, a 40 mm grenade launcher and two short-range anti-tank launchers.

At Partner 2025, Serbia presented the Miloš V1 unmanned ground vehicle, a tracked remotely controlled platform designed to destroy or disable infantry and light armoured vehicles by carrying an automatic machine gun, a grenade launcher, and two short-range anti-tank launchers. The vehicle is operated from a distant safe position, and its configuration is defined per contract. The Miloš V1 was displayed alongside other Serbian systems and national munitions capacities that support its sustainment and use on the battlefield.
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The Miloš V1’s armament mix pairs a 7.62 x 54R M86 automatic machine gun, a 40 mm RBG 40/6 grenade launcher, and two 64 mm anti-tank launchers such as the M80 Zolja. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The Miloš V1 is a compact tracked UGV with clear physical and mobility parameters. The total system weight is 670 kilograms, length is 1,725 millimetres, width is 770 millimetres, and height is 950 millimetres, and the vehicle can reach up to 10 kilometres per hour while offering an operating time of approximately three hours. It has zero radius turning capability, which allows pivot manoeuvres in confined and urban terrain, and the tracked chassis is intended to improve mobility over rough ground where wheeled platforms may struggle. These characteristics place the Miloš V1 in the short-range tactical category suitable for remote fire support, close reconnaissance, protected resupply tasks and casualty evacuation at short standoff distances.

The Miloš V1 carries a mixed weapons fit for anti-personnel and anti-armor tasks. The primary small armament is the 7.62 x 54R M86 automatic machine gun, which weighs 11.6 kg, has a 780 mm barrel and an overall length of 1,100 mm; the cyclic rate is listed at 700 to 800 rounds per minute with a lower practical sustained firing rate, the maximum effective range is around 1,000 metres and the weapon can be fired by an electric trigger without direct operator contact while mechanical triggering remains possible. The secondary weapons include an RBG 40/6 40 mm grenade launcher with a 250 mm barrel, a six-round drum, use of NATO 40 x 46 mm grenades, a maximum effective range of roughly 375 metres and a nominal rate of fire of about 12 grenades per minute, and two 64 mm anti-tank launchers such as the M80 Zolja which are single-use recoilless rockets with an effective firing range in combat of several hundred metres and a claimed armour penetration on the order of 300 mm of rolled homogeneous steel under ideal conditions.

Turret motion, remote control and sensors define how the Miloš V1 acquires and engages targets. The turret provides continuous 360-degree traverse with rotation rates between 0.05 degrees per second up to 45 degrees per second, elevation movement between 0.05 degrees per second up to 25 degrees per second in a range from minus 5 degrees to plus 45 degrees, and the turret is controlled by a wireless remote link. Observation and sighting equipment comprises a day CCD camera with continuous zoom, a night and thermal camera with digital zoom and a laser rangefinder effective to 2,000 metres, enabling target detection, tracking and ranging across day and night conditions while keeping the operator physically separated from the platform. Practical logistics and sustainment details include quick-change barrels for the M86 to permit cooling during heavy use, loaded ammunition box weights and belt capacities for the machine gun, and options such as belt fillers and spare barrels to support sustained operations.

National ammunition and overhaul capabilities are integrated with the Miloš V1; for instance, the M86 machine gun mounts to vehicles with connection points and is supplied with ammunition belts and boxes, with the loaded 100-round box weighing about 3.9 kg and a loaded 250-round box weighing about 9.4 kg, and the barrel construction uses cold forging with chrome plating for longevity. Serbia's Ammunition Technical Overhaul Institution provides assembly, testing, renovation, performance improvement and demilitarization for calibres from 40 mm up to 155 mm and designs production lines and special tools according to customer needs, and that industrial capacity also produces a single-use armed drone called Komarac 2 which is aimed at shielded and unshielded personnel, combat equipment and lightly armoured vehicles at ranges up to 2,000 metres and which is claimed to offer penetration performance up to about 300 mm in its profile.

Combat UGVs have moved into multiple operational roles, and Miloš V1 is one of many small tracked or wheeled platforms adapted for direct and support tasks. States and to some extent non-state actors deploy UGVs for direct offensive combat using weaponised turrets or explosive loads, for defensive tasks including mine clearing and perimeter security, and for support missions such as intelligence, surveillance, logistics and casualty evacuation; examples in current employment include Milrem THeMIS used for armed support and logistics, Ukraine’s TERMIT and Zmiy family vehicles employed for casualty evacuation, resupply and remote fire, Russia’s Marker and Uran families used in guarded or experimental combat roles, Spain’s Alano logistics robot, and varied European EOD and transport platforms. Field reports show concrete effects such as robots evacuating wounded under fire and inexpensive explosive ground drones used as kamikaze vehicles, but they also show constraints like limited endurance, difficulty with complex terrain, and the present immaturity of higher levels of autonomy.

Operational use and doctrine emphasise that Miloš V1-type platforms are pragmatic force multipliers when integrated into combined manned-unmanned formations. Small tracked platforms that reuse proven weapons, offer remote turrets and carry day/night optics extend reach while reducing personnel exposure, they require integrated logistics chains for ammunition, spare parts, belts and barrels and they deliver most value when human commanders remain central to target identification and engagement. At the same time, the record to date suggests these UGVs supplement rather than replace manned units across mission sets, serving as expendable sensors, remote fire support or specialist logistics assets while ongoing work on autonomy, resilient communications and networked command will determine how broadly they change force structure in the years ahead.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.