Yugoslav People's Army

The Yugoslav People's Army (YPA), also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army (YNA; Serbo-Croatian: Југословенска народна армија (ЈНА) / Jugoslovenska narodna armija (JNA), Jugoslavenska narodna armija (JNA); Macedonian: Југословенската народна армија (ЈНА); Slovene: Jugoslovanska ljudska armada (JLA)) or simply by the initialism JNA (Cyrillic: ЈНА), was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The origins of the JNA can be found in the Yugoslav Partisan units of World War II. As part of the antifascist People's Liberation War of Yugoslavia, the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOVJ), a predecessor of the JNA, was formed in the town of Rudo in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 22 December 1941. After the Yugoslav Partisans liberated the country from the Axis Powers, that date was officially celebrated as the "Day of the Army" in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia).

In March 1945, the NOVJ was renamed the "Yugoslav Army" ("Jugoslovenska Armija") and, on its 10th anniversary, on 22 December 1951, received the adjective "people's" ("narodna")

The JNA consisted of the ground forces, air force and navy. It was organized into four military regions which were further divided into districts that were responsible for administrative tasks such as draft registration, mobilization, and construction and maintenance of military facilities. The regions were: Belgrade (responsible for eastern Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Zagreb (Slovenia and northern Croatia), Skopje (Republic of Macedonia, Southern Serbia and Montenegro) and Split Naval Region. Of the JNA's 180,000 soldiers, more than 100,000 were conscripts.

In 1990, the army had nearly completed a major overhaul of its basic force structure. It eliminated its old divisional infantry organization and established the brigade as the largest operational unit. The army converted ten of twelve infantry divisions into twenty-nine tank, mechanized and mountain infantry brigades with integral artillery, air defense and anti-tank regiments. One airborne brigade was organized before 1990. The shift to brigade-level organization provided greater operational flexibility, maneuverability, tactical initiative and reduced the possibility that large army units would be destroyed in set piece engagements with an aggressor. The change created many senior field command positions that would develop relatively young and talented officers. The brigade structure had advantages at a time of declining manpower.