2005 Menghean military reforms

The 2005 military reforms adopted in Menghe were part of a comprehensive effort to restructure and improve the Menghean Army and Navy during the second half of the 2000s. The changes were motivated by the disastrous performance of the Menghean armed forces in the Ummayan Civil War, where a Menghean intervention force succeeded in propping up a Taleyan rebel insurrection in the south but suffered severe casualties in engagements with Sieuxerrian and Tyrannian forces. The war brought the first engagements between Menghean combatants and a parity Casaterran military since 1964, and revealed serious deficiencies in Menghean capabilities.

Choe Sŭng-min convened a series of meetings of the General Staff in the spring of 2005 to discuss the poor performance of the Army and Navy in Ummayah, calling for "honest self-criticism and a plan for fundamental changes." The Ministry of National Defense issued a proclamation on July 5th stating that the armed forces would undergo "comprehensive reform in all areas," the first public acknowledgement that reforms were underway. Internal memos to individual units and departments gave more specific instructions.

The initial "self-criticism and introspection" period involved a series of resignations by high-profile officials, followed by a broader personnel shakeup of the middle administrative ranks, as politically motivated appointees from the 1990s were replaced by a new generation of theorists. A parallel campaign attacked corruption in the Army procurement department and severed many of the Army's civilian economic holdings. More material changes included new uniforms, new weaponry, longer and more selective conscription terms, improved armor and electronics for vehicles, and new developments in tactics and operations which granted more autonomy to lower-level commanders. Simultaneously, the size of the Menghean Army's standing force was increased to meet the border threat from Maverica and Innominada, and the Navy received authorization to build a third aircraft carrier. To support the increased costs, military spending broadly and research and development spending in particular increased sharply, and work began on a number of new weapons projects.