The highest operational authority, in-charge of the deployment and preparation of the armed forces in peace and war, is the General Staff.

The victories in the battles of Ivankovac (1805), Mišar (August 1806), Deligrad (December 1806) and Belgrade (November–December 1806), led to the establishment of the Principality of Serbia in 1817.

The subsequent Second Serbian Uprising of 1815–1817 led to full independence and recognition of the Kingdom of Serbia and weakened the Ottoman dominance in the Balkans.

Following a string of defeats, Bulgaria requested an armistice and signed the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest, formally ending the war.

Serbian military activity after World War I took place in the context of various Yugoslav armies until the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the restoration of Serbia as an independent state in 2006.

It is responsible for defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia; participating in peacekeeping operations; and providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

The Serbian General Staff (Generalštab Vojske Srbije) makes strategic and tactical preparations and procedures for use during peacetime and war.

The Serbian Armed Forces has a wide variety of equipment, mix of older Yugoslav and Soviet products (dating back to the 1980s and even 1970s) and new equipment, either domestically-produced from Serbian defence contractors or acquired from foreign producers (main suppliers being France, China, Russia, and to a lesser extent Germany).

[13][14] Serbian Air Force and Air Defense has in operational use the following equipment: 13 Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter aircraft (10 of which are modernized to SM standard and armed with R-77 missiles),[15] 13 Yugoslav-made J-22 attack aircraft, 2 Spanish C-295 transport aircraft,[16] 15 Russian Mi-35 attack helicopter (armed with Ataka missiles),[17] 15 German H145M utility helicopters (of which ten are armed with HForce weapon system), 13 Russian Mi-17 utility helicopters, Chinese CH-95 and CH-92 combat drones, Chinese HQ-22 and HQ-17 long- and medium-range air-defence missile systems (4 and 3 batteries respectively),[18] as well as one battery of Russian Pantsir medium-range air-defence missile system (2 more on order but delivery postponed due to sanctions on Russia).

Whenever possible, the Serbian Ministry of Defence favors products that are manufactured in Serbia such as: Lazar armoured personnel carriers, Miloš light armored infantry vehicles, Nora B-52 artillery systems, Lasta 95 training aircraft.

[3] Motto of the Serbian Armed Forces is "For Freedom and Honour of the Fatherland" (Za slobodu i čast Otadžbine) and is found on uniforms as well as on brigade flags.

The Yugoslav People's Army abandoned it after World War II, being in use for over two decades before being replaced by high-stepping in the 1975 Victory Day Parade, to assert itself as independent from Soviet influence.

Also frequently used and the most popular and recognizable by the general public in Serbia is famous March on the Drina (Marš na Drinu).