The FRY currently has no active nuclear weapons program. From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s, Yugoslavia intermittently pursued both a nuclear energy and weapons program. The regime of Josip Tito, primarily driven by a desire for international status rather than security concerns, initiated the program in the late 1940s (though the Tito regime was truly frightened by the potential aggression of the Stalinist USSR and strengthened its defenses accordingly). Belgrade collaborated with Norway, which had an advanced nuclear research program, until Tito deactivated the weapons program in the early 1960s. After India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, Yugoslavia restarted its weapons program to "compete" with its rival for leadership of the nonaligned movement. Limited financial resources and indifference among the nuclear scientists working on the program brought it to an end in 1987 without ever producing a functioning weapon. In August 2002, 48 kilograms of 80 percent highly enriched uranium (HEU) were transferred from the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences near Belgrade to a processing plant in Dmitrovgrad, Russia. In October 2006, the IAEA announced that it had finalized a contract to package and ship over two metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel from Vinca to Russia. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia acceded to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1970 and signed an Additional Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency in July 2005. (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia are signatories to the NPT.)
See Yugoslavia Nuclear Profile
There is no evidence in the open literature of the existence of a biological warfare program within the FRY or any of its successor states. Published allegations during the 2002 Boka Star smuggling incident suggested Serbia and Montenegro had possibly shipped biological equipment to Iraq, although this could not be confirmed. Yugoslavia signed the Geneva Protocol in 1929. Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Slovenia are all states parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).
See Yugoslavia Biological Profile
Yugoslavia is known to have produced a variety of chemical weapons. The majority of stockpiled weapons is believed to have been inherited by its successor, Serbia and Montenegro. Reports indicate that the former Yugoslavia's Army produced significant quantities of sarin (50 tons), sulfur mustard, phosgene, the incapacitant BZ (allegedly a stockpile of 300 tons), and tear gas. At least four chemical warfare production facilities have been identified in Serbia: Prva Iskra in Baric; Miloje Blagojevic in Lucani; and Milojie Zakic and Merima in Krusevac. While the Trajal plant in Krusevac is no longer associated with the production of CW agents, serious questions exist about accounting and previous production and storage of chemical materials there, as well the lack of accounting on the other three sites. Yugoslavia used its chemical warfare (CW) technologies to develop chemical munitions for Iraq prior to the first Gulf War in the "Jastrebac" (Little Hawk) program and chemical munitions for the Orkan MLRS system under the "KOL15" program. There have been allegations that chemical weapons were used in the area of the former Yugoslavia: both Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats alleged that Bosnian government forces used chlorine during the conflict in Bosnia; Bosnian Serbs allegedly used BZ against Moslem refugees in July 1995; and the FRY Army may have used BZ against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. Mysterious deaths during the 1999 NATO bombings of suspected chemical facilities have also been attributed to chemical weapons production. The then Kingdom of Yugoslavia signed the Geneva Protocol in 1929. In April 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC): the last of the Yugoslavian successor states to do so. In September of 2003, all remaining equipment and materials associated with the production of CW agents was destroyed under the supervision of OPCW inspectors. Since that time Serbia has committed itself to making an active contribution to the implementation of the Convention. Most significantly Serbia has provided an annual series of training courses in CW preparedness to OPCW member states. Croatia has also sought to play an active international role in CW defense by convening a series of international conferences on CW defense since the mid 1990s and hosting the first OPCW Assistance delivery exercise in 2002. Slovenia has made a point of committing its CW defense forces to NATO's rapid-reaction forces.
See Yugoslavia Chemical Profile
Yugoslavia has acquired and developed short-range tactical rockets and anti-aircraft systems, including the 262mm M-87 Orkan multiple rocket launcher produced at the Vogosca facility north of Sarajevo. Timer fuses for the rocket are produced at the Binas facility. Prior to Desert Storm, Yugoslavia worked cooperatively with Iraq in the latter's efforts to manufacture this rocket indigenously and others. The 2002 Boka Star incident included the confiscation of 208 solid-propellant rocket fuel components, as well as undocumented reports that the shipment included missiles. Belgrade and Baghdad cooperated on other military projects, including Iraq's transfer of production plans for the Al-Taw'han medium-range air-to-air missile and Yugoslavia's reported assistance with Iraq's Al-Samoud ballistic missile. There are unconfirmed reports that Serbia had a ballistic missile development program during the 1990s, which it may have abandoned due to financial constraints, while other companies were contracted though Jugoimport-SDPR for Iraq to provide for maintenance and adaptation of SA-2 and SA-6 anti-aircraft missiles. Yugoslavian air defenses extensively utilize Soviet/Russian short-range surface-to-air missiles (SAM), and Belgrade used the SA-2 SAM as a ballistic missile during the recent Balkan conflicts. Other medium-range missile systems employed by Belgrade include the Russian-made FROG-7 and the Swedish RBS-15F air-to-ship missile. The U.S. Embassy's 2002 non-paper claimed the FRY assisted both Libya and Iraq with their "long range" missile/rocket programs, sighting the presence of FRY missile specialists in Iraq throughout 2001. Other scientists from Belgrade have developed a plethora of dual-use technologies suitable for a "poor-man's" cruise missile, and are rumored to have helped Iraqi scientists convert Iraqi MiG-21 and other training vehicles into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). None of the former republics of Yugoslavia is a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
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Updated November 2007 |
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