The Serbian Air Force and Air Defence (), is the air force of Serbia and service branch of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its mission is to guard and protect the sovereignty of Serbian airspace, and jointly with the Serbian Army, to protect territorial integrity of the country. Serbian Air Force was established in 1912, thus making Serbia one of the first fifteen states in the world to have an air force. It was subsequently absorbed into the air forces of various Yugoslav states between 1918 and 2006. History The idea to form air forces in the Royal Serbian Army was first mentioned in the General Army Formation Act from 2 August 1893. This act envisioned that within each division of the Army be formed one air force balloon company. The first aviation pioneer in Serbia was Lieutenant Kosta Miletić (1874–1953), trained as a balloon pilot at the Technical Aeronautical School in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from 1901 to 1902. On the recommendation of Miletić, the Royal Serbian Army posed messenger pigeon stations and bought two free spherical and one tied kite balloon from the August Ridinger company from German city of Augsburg. At the reception ceremony, on 19 April 1909, Kosta Miletić flew a spherical balloon called "Srbija". One balloon was provided from Russia. A gas chamber was ordered from the Dillmann company in Berlin, and a field winch from Saint Petersburg. A hydrogen unit was provided from the Swiss company Oerlikon. The equipment was delivered to Serbia in 1909 and 1910. The first competition for cadet airmen was opened in 1911, and in the following year the first class of Serbian pilots started their flying training in France and got the rank of pilot. They finished the course at the beginning of the First Balkan War with aircraft and the balloons that had already been obtained prior to the outbreak of war. In the autumn of 1912, Serbia got the aircraft for its armed forces. and on 24 September 1912 by the Act of the Minister of Army Radomir Putnik, an Aviation Command was established in Niš. Serbian Aviation (Srpska avijatika) comprised the Aircraft Detachment (which counted 12 aircraft), the Balloon Company, the pigeon post and the airbase. This date is regarded as the official founding of the Serbian Air Force. Balkan Wars The First Balkan War broke out in October 1912; Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia waged it against