SFR Yugoslav Ground Forces

"KoV" "(Kopnena Vojska)" or Ground forces, of the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA).

Infantry

The ground forces led in personnel. It had about 140,000 active-duty soldiers (including 90,000 conscripts) and could mobilize over a million trained reservists in wartime. Reserve forces were organized along republics' lines into Territorial Defence Forces and in wartime they were to be subordinate to JNA Supreme Command as an integral part of defence system. Territorial Defence (reserve force) was made up of former conscripts and they were occasionally called up for war exercises.

The ground forces were infantry, armour, artillery, and air defence, as well as signal, engineering and chemical defence corps.

Equipment

*"Rifles"
**Zastava M-70
*"Heavy Machineguns"
**Zastava M-84

Gallery

Tank and Armoured brigades

Yugoslav tank brigades comprised two or three battalions. They operated about 1000 Soviet T-54s and T-55s,70 Soviet T-72s, around 450 Yugoslav M-84s, and some United States-made M-47 tanks. The army's tanks were in many respects its most obsolete forces. The T-54/-55 was a frontline model during the 1960s. Domestic production of the M-84 (an improved version of the Soviet T-72 built under license in Yugoslavia) was providing the army with a late 1970s and 1980s model. The army also had a reserve of old T-34/85 and Sherman tanks from WWII.

The Yugoslav army had over 400 M-80 armored combat vehicles, 500 M-80A IFVs and 300 M-60P armored personnel carriers produced domestically. The infantry also operated more than 200 Soviet-made BTR-152, BTR-40, and BTR-50 armored personnel carriers (APCs), which had been purchased in the 1960s and 1970s. It had 100 M-3A1 half-tracked personnel carriers produced by the United States and a small number of new Romanian TAB-72 (a variant of the BTR-60) armored personnel carriers. Armored reconnaissance vehicles included a few older Soviet BTR-40s, newer BRDM-2 and BTR-60 models, and domestic BOV and M-8 vehicles.

Equipment

*Light Tanks
**PT-76 - 100
*Medium Tanks'
**M-4 Sherman - 630 (including M-32,M32B1 and M-74 tank recovery vehicle,stored in reserve)
**T-34/85 - 308 (stored in reserve)
**M-47 Patton - 319
**T-55 - ~1000
*Main Battle Tanks
**T-72 - 93
**M-84 - 450
*APC's
**MT-LB - ~200
**M-60P - ~800
**BTR-50 - 120
**BTR-60 (TBA-72) - 80
*IFV's
**M-80A - 600
*"'Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles
**BRDM-2 - 50
**BOV APC - 317 (successor state)

Equipment Gallery

Artillery regiments

Yugoslav artillery regiments were well equipped with Soviet, U.S. and domestic systems. Soviet artillery in these units consisted of approximately 1,000 towed 122 mm howitzers, 130 mm guns, 152 mm gun/howitzers, and 155 mm howitzers. There were about 700 older United States 105 mm and 155 mm towed guns and domestically produced models such as the M-65 in the artillery regiments. Towed pieces were very important for operations in the country's mountainous terrain.

Artillery units operated Soviet 100 mm and 122 mm and Yugoslav-produced 105 mm M-7 self-propelled guns. Those units had over 6,000 82 mm and 120 mm mortars, including a self-propelled 82 mm mortar mounted on an M-60PB variant of the standard armored personnel carrier.

Yugoslav artillery units operated several battlefield missile systems including 160 128 mm YMRL-32 and M-63 multiple-rocket launchers. The arsenal included four launchers for Soviet FROG-7 surface-to-surface missiles. First fielded in 1967, the unguided FROG-7 had a range of 100 kilometers.

Equipment

*Towed Artillery
**D-30 (D-30J, D-30JA1) - 120
**D-74 - ?
**M-46 - 186
**D-20 - 36
**M84 "NORA A" - ?
*Self-Propelled Artillery
**SU-100 - 40
**2S1 Gvozdika - 100
**M18 Hellcat - ~260
**M36 Jackson - ~300
*Rocket Artillery
**M-63 Plamen - ~800
**M-77 Oganj - ~120
**M-87 Orkan - ~10
**FROG-7 - 10

Equipment Gallery

Anti-tank regiments

Yugoslav anti-tank regiments had towed anti-tank guns, recoilless rifles, and Soviet anti-tank guided missiles. Antitank guns included 75 mm, 90 mm, and 100 mm models. They were Soviet produced with the exception of the 90 mm M-63B2, which was manufactured domestically.

The recoilless rifles were manufactured domestically and included 57 mm, 82 mm, and 105 mm models. Two self-propelled 82 mm recoilless rifles could be mounted on an M-60PB armored personnel carrier.

Anti-tank guided missiles were the Soviet AT-1 (NATO: "Snapper") and AT-3 (NATO: "Sagger"). They were used in both anti-tank and infantry units, but because of their early vintage, effectiveness against advanced armor was uncertain. The four wheeled BOV-1 armored reconnaissance vehicle could be equipped with six AT-3 launchers to serve as a highly mobile anti-tank platform.

Gallery

Air defense

Larger Yugoslav army units had considerable tactical air defense assets, designed to defend major troop concentrations against enemy air strikes. The ground forces had four surface-to-air missile regiments and eleven antiaircraft artillery regiments. The former operated large numbers of Soviet SA-6, SA-7, SA-9, SA-13, SA-14, SA-16 missiles. Short-range systems also were employed in infantry units.

Yugoslav antiaircraft artillery regiments operated over 5,000 guns. Self-propelled gun systems included the Soviet-made 57 mm dual ZSU-57-2 gun systems and the domestically produced triple 20 mm BOV-3s and dual 30 mm BOV-30s. Large numbers of towed antiaircraft guns of many calibers were in the inventory. Of both domestic and foreign origin, they included pieces purchased from the United States, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Equipment

*Anti aircraft systems
**57 mm AZP S-60 - ?
**M-55 - ?
*Self-propelled Anti aircraft systems
**BOV-3/30 - ~100
**M53/59 Praga - 789 [ [http://oklop2.tripod.com/praga/m53.htm Samohodni PA top Praga M-53/59 ] ]
**ZSU-57-2 - 100
*MANPAD's
**Strela-2 - 2700
**9K34 Strela-3 - ?
**9K38 Igla - ?
*SAM's
**9K31 Strela-1 - 120
**9K35 Strela-10 - 18
**S-75 Dvina - 60 (used by Air Force and Air Defense)
**S-125 Neva - 60 (used by Air Force and Air Defense)
**2K12 Kub - 80~90 (used by Air Force and Air Defense)

Equipment Gallery

Coastal artillery

The coastal artillery batteries had both surface-to-surface missiles and guns. They operated the Soviet-designed SS-C-3 and a truck-mounted, Yugoslav-produced Brom antiship missile. The latter was essentially a Yugoslav variant of the Soviet SS-N-2. Coastal guns included over 400 85 mm, 88 mm, 122 mm, 130 mm, and 152 mm artillery pieces obtained from the Soviet Union, the United States, captured and refurbished WW2 German and Italian pieces, and Yugoslav manufacturers.

ee also

* Yugoslav Peoples Army
* Territorial Defense Forces (Yugoslavia)
* SFR Yugoslav Air Force
* SFR Yugoslav Navy
* Partisans (Yugoslavia)
* Front Magazine

References

* [http://www.avijacijabezgranica.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=27 Logistika, naoruzanje i ratna tehnika u OS SFRJ i novonastalim drzavama..]
* [http://www.avijacijabezgranica.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 Kopnene vojske na prostorima Ex-YU drzava od nastanka do danas...]