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Yugoslavia Domestic Arms Production
Beginning in the mid-1970s, Yugoslavia made considerable
progress in replacing imports with cheaper domestically
manufactured military equipment. As Yugoslav military equipment
approached the quality of European equipment, international sale
of such products became a potential source of hard currency for
the Yugoslav economy
(see Arms Sales
, this ch.). By 1990 Yugoslav
industry was providing about 80 percent of basic military
equipment and some advanced systems. But that figure included
mostly infantry weapons, antitank systems, armored vehicles,
boats and ships, and relatively simple components. Although the
objective was to keep pace with the best armaments in NATO and
Warsaw Pact inventories, this goal was hindered by the tremendous
financial and technological obstacles facing all of Yugoslav
industry in 1990. The Yugoslav arms industry upgraded or
modernized existing systems when possible, extended the service
life or improved the effectiveness of major weapons systems, and
shared research and development breakthroughs with civilian
industry to maximize economic impact. Yugoslav arms industries
operated somewhat differently from other economic enterprises.
Article 281 of the Constitution empowered the federal secretary
for national defense to regulate associated labor and selfmanaging organizations involved in defense production and
research. A 1979 law on domestic defense industries consolidated
many enterprises producing arms and other military equipment. It
also provided the federal secretary for national defense more
direct control over the activities of those enterprises. Domestic
defense production in the 1970s had been hampered by the relative
autonomy of many highly interdependent industries. As many as 240
loosely associated enterprises produced necessary parts for a
single complex weapons system. The 1979 law weakened the
principle of self-management in defense production enterprises,
citing their special role in national security. The law severely
circumscribed the right of employees to set prices for their
products. This provision allayed military concerns about the
inflation and escalating arms costs caused by worker wage
demands. Workers continued the formal process of setting prices,
but only under strict guidelines issued by the federal secretary
for national defense. The federal secretary also prepared an arms
import program. Funds from the defense budget had to be allocated
if foreign exchange earnings from arms exports did not match the
cost of arms imports. The secretary was responsible for arranging
credit or payment terms with foreign governments or suppliers.
The ground forces were the first priority in Yugoslavia's
arms procurement plans. The most urgent requirements were
replacement of obsolete armored forces and improvement of mobile
defense infantry weapons, including antitank and antiaircraft
systems, to compensate for infantry manpower cutbacks. In 1990
Yugoslavia also was developing its own military aircraft and
helicopters. Improved target detection and designation systems
were sought.
In the late 1970s, the Soviet Union granted Yugoslavia a
license to build the T-72 tank. The Yugoslav version, designated
M-84, went into serial production in the late 1980s. According to
Yugoslav sources, the M-84 had a computerized fire control
system, electronics, and a laser rangefinder comparable to those
of advanced NATO and Warsaw Pact models. It featured protection
against armor-piercing shells, a low silhouette, and a defensive
alarm system to warn the crew when the vehicle was illuminated by
enemy radar, infrared, or laser target designators.
By contrast, the Yugoslav M-980 armored combat vehicle was an
entirely domestic design. When initially fielded in 1975, it was
one of the world's most advanced models, rated on a par with the
Soviet BMP-1 or French AMX-10. The amphibious M-980 carried an
eight-man infantry squad, a driver, and a gunner. It was armed
with Soviet AT-3 antitank guided missiles, a 20mm cannon, and
7.92mm machine gun, and powered by a Snecma diesel engine. The
Yugoslav BOV was a particularly versatile domestic armored
reconnaissance vehicle configured with a number of mounted
antitank and antiaircraft weapons systems.
Yugoslavia produced its first fighter aircraft in 1950 and
followed it with many trainers and experimental aircraft in later
years. In the mid-1960s, the Galeb and Jastreb fighters were the
first domestically manufactured jet aircraft. In the 1970s,
Yugoslavia produced the Super Galeb light attack aircraft and
began to work jointly with Romania to develop its first
sophisticated domestic fighter/attack aircraft, the Orao. A
single Rolls Royce Mk 632 Viper turbojet engine powered the Super
Galeb, which carried two twin 23mm cannons, 57mm and 128mm
rockets, and cluster bombs. Its total ordnance load capability
was 2,000 kilograms. The Orao incorporated both domestic and
foreign technology, including twin Rolls Royce Mk 633-41 Viper
turbojet engines. The initial prototype was ready in 1974, and
serial production began in 1980. Performance of the Orao was very
similar to that of the Alpha jet used by NATO forces.
Although it represented a considerable advance for Yugoslav
military aviation, the Orao had some significant shortcomings. It
was limited to subsonic performance, carried a relatively light
weapons load of 2,500 kilograms, lacked air-to-air missiles, and
offered a short combat radius of 400 kilometers. By 1990, fewer
than 100 had been built, and plans to build a new multirole
fighter cast doubt on the future of the Orao program.
In the 1980s, the Ivo Lola Ribar Machine Industry of Belgrade
began manufacturing French Aérospatiale SA-342 Gazelle
helicopters under license. Called the Partisan, this was the
first domestically produced rotary-wing aircraft. It could carry
four launchers for AT-3 antitank guided missiles.
In 1990 Yugoslavia had a solid technological and
manufacturing base for producing other weapons systems; the main
weak points of this base were in electronics and guidance
technologies. Yugoslavia cooperated with Sweden to produce laser
rangefinders and gun sights. Its arms industries used Soviet,
Czechoslovak, and United States models to achieve selfsufficiency in rifles, machine guns, light antiarmor rockets,
mortars, and artillery pieces, and to provide a substantial
portion of boats and landing craft used by the YPA. The Soviet
Osa class served as a design model for Yugoslav missile boats,
which were powered by British turbine engines and armed with
French-supplied Exocet antiship missiles. The Yugoslav 501-class
landing craft was a versatile platform capable of transporting
three tanks and two platoons of troops or two eight-gun artillery
batteries. It also could serve as a coastal minelayer. But in
1990, Yugoslavia still relied on the Soviet Union and a number of
Italian, Spanish, Swiss, and Swedish arms firms for weapons and
electronics to outfit the ships and boats built in Yugoslav
shipyards.
Domestic production of antitank systems was a high priority
because such systems were not easily available elsewhere. The
Soviet Union was reluctant to provide Yugoslavia its more
advanced antitank guided missiles, which might be used later
against its own main battle tanks. The United States had declined
to sell TOW missiles because Yugoslavia had failed to abide by
the terms of previous arms transfers.
Data as of December 1990
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