The Serbian Ministry of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin, attended the verification testing of the phase 2 prototype of the locally-developed anti-aircraft L-70 40mm Bofors L-70 automatic cannon (PASARS) at the “Miokovci” firing range near ÄŒaÄak, namely the segment related to firing at ground targets with time delay-fuzed ammunition. PASARS-16 is a Serbian mobile hybrid short range air defense system in serial production based on new Fabrika automobila Priboj 2228 6 × 6 general purpose off-road military chassis.
Armed with a single towed Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun and two RLN-1C/170 infrared surface-to-air missiles mounted at the rear of the vehicle, the system is linked with a modernized M85 Zirafa air defence radar. New programmable ammunition consisting of 1100 Tungsten pellets is developed to be used with 40mm gun giving to system Air-burst capability. Gun can use thermal camera to engage targets. The PASARS has been spotted with a laser rangefinder and day/night sighting system.
The PASARS main armament is the Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft autocannon. Designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors, during the 1970’s Serbian arms manufacturer Zastava Arms acquired from Bofors a license to produce the L/70 version together with laser-computer group. Ammunition for the autocannon is locally produced for domestic use and export by Serbian ammunition and manufacturing company Sloboda ÄŒaÄak including ammunition of increased range. Ammunition for the gun is fed in clips from the top with empty casings ejected forward of the mount.
