Issue: 2/2019

Between East and West: Supply of Yugoslav Peoples Army with Arms and Military Equipment, 1965-1969

Authors:
Tatjana Milošević

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In the second half of the 1960s the Yugoslav Army was at the “crossroad“ between East and West in terms of armament and military equipment procurement. In that period, Soviet influence was slowly declining, especially after the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968, while American influence was increasing significantly. Cooperation with the West, primarily with the USA, was reestablished. However, in addition to the needed deliveries of military armament and equipment from abroad, the domestic military industry developed armaments for the Yugoslav PeopleS Army. At the same time, major changes occurred in the conceptual doctrinal direction of the Yugoslav Armed Forces. In that period (especially in 1964. and 1968), the plan DRVAR 2 significantly changed the structure, organization, and formation the armed forces.