MongoliaOrganization since 1968
Figure 15. Organization of the Armed Forces,1989
Unavailable
Figure 16. Armed Forces Personnel Strength, Selected
Year, 1978-88
Source: Based on information from International Institute for
Strategic Studies, The Military Balance, London, 1978-
88.
The Military Council, originally established by the
Mongolian-Soviet defense accord of 1921, was responsible in the
1980s to the Council of Ministers for all defense matters
(see Major State Organizations
, ch. 4). Observers thought that the
council was composed of the minister of defense (who was called
the minister of people's army affairs until March 1968) and his
deputy ministers, the chief political commissar of the army, and
top party officials with military experience and orientation. The
Military Council worked in close conjunction with the Special
Military Department of the party Central Committee, which lent
political authority to its directives
(see
fig. 15).
In 1987 the Ministry of Defense was allotted an annual budget
of US$249.44 million. It was administered by the minister of
defense, Colonel General Jamsrangiyn Yondon, assisted by the
chief of the general staff, Lieutenant General C. Purebdorj, and
by deputies responsible for various functional directorates,
including operations and intelligence, organization and
mobilization, military transportation, and signal communications,
the main inspectorate, the main directorate of the rear services,
and the main political directorate. More than 70 percent of armed
forces personnel were members of either the Mongolian People's
Revolutionary Party or the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League.
In 1988 the armed forces consisted of 24,500 active-duty
personnel (21,000 army and 3,500 air force), augmented by 200,000
army reservists and by various paramilitary forces, including
militia (internal security troops and frontier guards attached to
the Ministry of Public Security) and military construction
troops. The army included approximately 17,000 conscripts
(see
fig. 16). It was organized into four motorized rifle divisions
and equipped with Soviet weapons and equipment ranging from
relatively modern to obsolete (see
table 13, Appendix). The air
force included 100 pilots and was organized into one fighter
regiment, at least two transport squadrons, and a helicopter
squadron. The air force was equipped with more than thirty Soviet
MiG-21 fighters along with An-2 biplanes, An-24, An-26, and An-32
transports, and Mi-4 and Mi-8 helicopters.
The Civil Air Transport Administration, responsible for
Mongolian Airlines (MIAT), was thought to be affiliated with the
air force. All airline pilots had military ranks, and they flew
Soviet-built transport aircraft on crop dusting, forest and
steppe fire patrol, and air ambulance missions. They also
provided mail and passenger service on 38,400 kilometers of
domestic routes as well as on international routes to Irkutsk and
Beijing, the latter inaugurated in 1986
(see Civil Aviation
, ch.
3).
Data as of June 1989
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