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Yugoslavia Arms Imports
Immediately after World War II, Yugoslavia received a
substantial amount of Italian military equipment as war
reparations. The Yugoslav arms industry used captured German and
Czechoslovak weapons as models in manufacturing its own small
arms and infantry equipment. The United States, France, and
Britain also supplied arms after the war. After Tito broke with
Stalin in 1948, Yugoslavia depended heavily on the United States
for military assistance. A United States Military Assistance
Advisory Group (MAAG) was active in Yugoslavia until 1961,
managing a total of about US$600 million in military aid. In
conjunction with the flow of United States weapons, many Yugoslav
officers came to the United States for training during that
period. Yugoslavia received World War II-vintage equipment and
some more up-to-date systems, including M-4 Sherman and M-47
Patton tanks, M-2 and M-3 half-tracked personnel carriers,
artillery, and F-86 Thunderflash fighter-bombers. Some of this
equipment was still in service or held in reserve in 1990. After
the Belgrade Declaration of 1955 improved bilateral relations,
the Soviet Union became Yugoslavia's main supplier of arms and
equipment. In the 1960s, Yugoslavia received Soviet T-34 and T54 /-55 tanks, first-generation antitank guided missiles, Osaclass missile boats, and MiG-21 fighters. In the 1970s, the
Soviet Union sold Mi-4 and Mi-8 helicopters and SA-2 and SA-6
surface-to-air missiles. Since 1985 Yugoslavia has received a
license to produce a domestic version of the Soviet T-72 tank for
its own use and for export. In the late 1980s, Yugoslavia was one
of only a few countries to be sold the new Soviet MiG-29 fighter.
At an estimated cost of US$20 million per aircraft, however, the
MiG-29 was considered too expensive for Yugoslavia to purchase
more than a few as models for its own aircraft industry.
Purchases from the Soviet Union had the advantage of sparing
Yugoslavia the scarce
hard currency (see Glossary) reserves
required as payment by Western suppliers. The Soviet Union also
provided generous credit and repayment terms. Civilian
authorities in Yugoslavia voiced serious concerns about the
political influence gained by the Soviet Union from such
favorable terms. Arms sales and frequent contacts had the
potential to build a constituency favorable to the Soviet Union
in the YPA and its leadership. In any event, the situation in
1990 preserved some of Yugoslavia's previous dependency on good
relations with the Soviet Union.
In the late 1980s, economic stringency forced postponement of
some major military purchases from Western countries. Yugoslavia
investigated purchase from other suppliers of mobile missile
systems for defense against armor, aircraft, and ships. Antitank,
antiaircraft, and antiship missiles were relatively cheap
alternatives to domestic manufacture of more tanks, interceptors,
and ships.
When possible, Yugoslavia sought to establish licensed
domestic production of foreign weapons systems. In general,
Western countries placed more restrictions on licensing
agreements and offered less generous terms than the Soviet Union,
because the former saw such deals strictly as profitmaking
transactions. In all cases, Yugoslavia refused to accept
political conditions on the use or retransfer of imported arms.
In the early 1980s, negotiations to supply Yugoslavia with modern
United States-manufactured TOW antitank guided missiles broke
down after the revelation that Yugoslavia had violated the terms
of a prior transfer, sending M-47 tanks to the new revolutionary
regime in Ethiopia in the early 1980s.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Yugoslavia expanded significantly its
arms cooperation with countries outside the Soviet and United
States spheres. In cooperation with Swiss firms, Yugoslavia
produced a multiple-use 20mm antiaircraft cannon and incorporated
the imported Snecma engine into its own M-980 armored combat
vehicle. The Yugoslav M-60P armored personnel carrier used an
Austrian engine. Cooperation with other nonaligned countries was
extensive. With India and Egypt, Yugoslavia traded spare parts
for Soviet weapons and aircraft. With Swedish assistance,
Yugoslav engineers developed laser rangefinders for sale to Egypt
and for domestic installation on Soviet-made tanks. Yugoslavia
bought many systems from two Soviet Warsaw Pact allies,
Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Yugoslav 128mm YMRL-32 multiplerocket launcher, with thirty-two tubes and automatic reloader,
was modeled after Czechoslovak and Romanian versions of the
Soviet BM-21. Yugoslavia purchased MiG-21 fighters made under
Soviet license in Czechoslovakia; Czechoslovak M53/59 truckmounted antiaircraft guns; and T-55 tanks and An-2 and An-28
transport aircraft built under Soviet license in Poland.
According to the United States Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency, between 1967 and 1976 the Soviet Union supplied 93
percent of Yugoslavia's arms purchases, Poland and France
supplied 2 percent each, the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany) and Czechoslovakia supplied 1 percent each, and the
United States supplied less than 1 percent. In that period, arms
made up 5 to 6 percent of the country's total imports. The
situation changed considerably in succeeding years as the Soviet
Union's supply role diminished. Between 1983 and 1987, Yugoslavia
bought US$600 million in arms abroad. The Soviet Union supplied
75 percent of this amount and the United States 23 percent, with
the remaining 2 percent supplied by ten other countries. In 1985
economic stringency reduced arms imports to US$30 million, less
than one-quarter of 1 percent of total imports. By 1987 that
figure had rebounded to US$210 million.
Data as of December 1990
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