A UK company, a Greek owner and Netanyahu's former lawyer: Who really owns Serbia's Israeli drone venture?

A UK company, a Greek owner and Netanyahu's former lawyer: Who really owns Serbia's Israeli drone venture?

Submitted by Elis Gjevori on Thu, 09/24/2026 - 09:52 The deal involving the manufacture of drones highlights the growing political stakes of Israeli weapons production abroad A Middle East Eye illustration showing Israeli drones, including Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic waving his country's flag (AFP) Off

Late last week, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic inaugurated a factory producing Israeli-made drones, giving his military and the local economy a boost during an election year.

Serbia will vote on 25 October and Vucic, president since 2017, is seeking to return as prime minister, as he is ineligible to run in the presidential election in 2027.

First announced in April, the partnership was expected to bring together Serbia’s state arms producer, Yugoimport-SDPR, and the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

But it was the set-up of the commercial drone partnership that has raised eyebrows.

Initial reports described a 51-49 joint venture between Elbit and Yugoimport-SDPR. Current company records do not reflect that structure.

Instead, Serbian business records identify the owner of the drone factory as SDS Technologies, founded in April 2025 under the name Cupa Enterprises.

A UK company previously called Cupa Limited owns it.

The Serbian Business Registry lists three SDS Technologies directors as of 17 September: Greek citizen Maria Kardamaki, Israeli lawyer Zion Amir, who has represented Benjamin Netanyahu, and George Antoine Elghossain from the United States with Lebanese roots.

On Monday, Cupa Limited changed its name in the UK’s Companies House register to Liberty Blue International Ltd.

Its public profile lists “satellite telecommunications activities” and “management consultancy activities other than financial management” as its main activities.

Its sole active director is Polychronis Tsianakas, whose registered address is in London’s St James's neighbourhood.

Another director, Greek national Athanasios Rammos, resigned from the UK company in July and from SDS Technologies in Serbia on 17 September.

According to Companies House, Rammos still controls 75 percent of Liberty Blue International.

Neither Yugoimport-SDPR nor Elbit Systems appears in the Serbian or UK company records, raising the question of what role they played in the venture.

Elbit Systems did not publicly announce the factory opening. Middle East Eye asked the company about the ownership structure of the drone factory and its involvement with SDS Technologies but had received no reply at the time of writing.

Ran Kril, Elbit Systems’ executive vice president for international marketing and business development since 2015, sat alongside Vucic at the opening ceremony.

A lack of transparency

Announcing the factory on Instagram and Facebook on Thursday last week, Vucic said: “The drones you see starting today are being produced in Serbia. The plans are big. I'm only showing a small part of what I'm allowed to show.”

“We believe that we will open with our Israeli partners at least three more factories throughout Serbia,” he said.

While briefly operating a drone, Vucic said of the weapons: “They go through the windows and chase the opponent, they are incredibly efficient.”

“I am very happy that we have reached this level of development,” he said, adding that Serbia’s Krusik weapons factory would produce the warheads.

'An enormous discrepancy exists between what was originally announced and what appears in the formal documents'

- Vuk Vuksanovic, King’s College London’s Department of War Studies

Senior Elbit officials and Israel’s ambassador, Avivit Bar-Ilan, attended the opening.

In a Facebook post, the Israeli embassy described it as “another milestone in our strong and strategic partnership, strengthening economic and industrial ties and taking Israel-Serbia cooperation to a new level”.

Daniel Martin, executive director of the Israeli “cybersecurity” organisation Cyber 7, was also present to “share knowledge, experience, lessons and mistakes with our partners”.

“An enormous discrepancy exists between what was originally announced and what appears in the formal documents,” Vuk Vuksanovic, a lecturer in foreign policy and grand strategy at King’s College London’s Department of War Studies, told MEE.

“Elbit Systems likely provided the technological solutions for this facility,” Vuksanovic said.

“Still, the actual ownership structure requires closer scrutiny, especially since non-transparency and opaque, secretive agreements have been the norm in the Serbian defence industry, which is heavily captured by political elites,” he added.

“This secrecy and lack of transparency have been particularly acute in Serbia’s procurement of weapons systems from external suppliers,” Vuksanovic said.

Serbia has already signed several deals with Elbit, including one in 2025 buying its Puls artillery system and Hermes 900 combat drones in a $335m deal.

Elbit is also expanding into Albania. In 2025 it signed deals to supply drones and open a flight school there.

Romania already hosts several Elbit production sites as Israel expands its arms production beyond its borders.

“Israeli interests are strongly dictated by national security planning, as Israel wants to expand its strategic periphery beyond the conflict-laden Middle East,” Vuksanovic said.

“Supply chain planning follows the same logic, as Israel wants to ensure its defence industry has supply chains in countries beyond the immediate flashpoints,” he added.

'Weaponised interdependence'

Israel may have another reason to embed its arms industry in countries whose political leaders it considers willing partners, regardless of public opposition to its genocide in Gaza.

Earlier this month a pro-Israel US think tank called on Tel Aviv to deepen its “military, technological, intelligence and economic” integration with the US until any attempt by Washington to rein Israel in would impose costs on the US itself.

The proposal by Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has been described as an attempt to “weaponize interdependence” by tying US jobs, military capabilities and economic interests more closely to Israel.

“Israel is trying to move from being an arms exporter to becoming part of other countries’ defence industrial bases,” Andreas Krieg, associate professor of security studies at King’s College London, told MEE.

“That is a much more powerful position. If Elbit simply manufactures a system in Israel and sells it to Romania or Britain, the relationship remains essentially transactional,” he said.

'Israel is creating networks of governments, companies and defence establishments that have something tangible to lose from a serious rupture in relations'

- Andreas Krieg, King’s College London

“Once it is manufacturing locally, employing local engineers, working with domestic suppliers and transferring parts of the production process, it becomes embedded in that country’s national security infrastructure,” he added.

As far back as 2004 a paper now held in the archive of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies outlined how local partnerships could tap into local networks and provide protection, serving as “a safety net against unfavorable political changes”.

Earlier this year the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, another Israeli think tank, argued that joint production, pooled procurement and technology transfers would “reduce the danger posed by a unilateral embargo”.

“This is quite close to what I would call weaponised interdependence,” Krieg said. “Israel is inserting itself into defence networks in ways that make disentanglement progressively more expensive.”

Meanwhile, the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, another Israeli think tank, explicitly identifies Serbia and Albania as part of Israeli efforts to “engage European countries individually, rather than the continent as a single bloc”, as a means of entrenching European divisions over Israel.

“Look at the direction of travel,” Krieg said, adding: “Elbit now has seven production facilities in Romania, more than a dozen sites in Britain, is expanding its footprint in Germany and Sweden, and is involved in local drone production in Serbia.

“This is no longer simply an export strategy. Israel is gradually internationalising its defence industrial base.

“Israel is creating networks of governments, companies and defence establishments that have something tangible to lose from a serious rupture in relations.” 

Balkans News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0