ZAPADNA VOJNA POMOĆ JUGOSLAVIJI 1951-1958
WESTERN MILITARY AID TO YUGOSLAVIA 1951-1958

Summary/Abstract: In the period between 1951 and 1958, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) joined the Mutual Defence Aid Program, a system of military aid organized in the postwar period by the US. Yugoslavia became part of this program on 14 November, 1951 and began officially receiving technology whose delivery had already started in the course of 1951, while the agreement was still under negotiation. JNA received considerable amounts of various arms and equipment which improved the army’s combat readiness in terms of both quantity and quality, which had previously been drastically weakened due to pressure from the USSR and its satellites. Many Yugoslav army cadres underwent various forms of education and training in Yugoslavia and abroad during this period. This and the technology received resulted in a higher stage of technological awareness in JNA. Changes in Yugoslavia’s foreign policy in 1957 induced its unilateral withdrawal from the military aid agreement which caused problems in maintaining combat readiness in JNA and the cooling of relations with the US.

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