BM 57

Воена модернизација 57, (Voena modernizacija), literally Military Modernization 1957, and shortened as BM 57, was a military modernization and development plan for the Armed Forces of the Syaran Republic created in the 1950s. It was intended to reform the Syaran military into a modern, mechanized fighting force following the end of the Occupation of Syara. It was the first major military program carried out by the Republic following the Siduri War.

Background

Under occupation, Syara's national defense had largely been left to the delegation of the occupying Common Axis powers, who had limited Syara's military to 350,000 personnel. In 1942 the order of battle for the armed forces consisted of 6 infantry divisions for the Army of the Syaran Republic, 28 corvettes, 16 destroyers, and 3 light cruisers for the Navy of the Syaran Republic, and 350 fighter aircraft in the Syaran Army Air Corps. Although the Syarans had originally been prohibited from operating armored vehicles such as tanks, restriction were lessened in 1943 allowing the Syarans to stand up a single tank regiment. The Syaran military remained lightly armed and dependent on the Common Axis for defense until the end of the Great Eracuran War, which marked a significant shift in the strategic posture of the major powers of Tyran. The cessation of hostilities prompted Quenmin and Mansuriyyah to withdraw their forces, while Cacerta and Tennai attempted to retain their presence in order to facilitate their strategic aims for the continent. The occupation was nevertheless significantly diminished; by 1948 there were 30,000 foreign soldiers on Syaran soil, a far cry from the nearly 3,000,000 troops a decade earlier.

Following the 1948 election that brought President Ljupcho Zlatarev to power, concerns over the future of Syara's geopolitical status and national defense became prominent in Syaran public debate. It was generally acknowledged that Syara's status as a great power was over; the national economy was burdened with hundreds of billions of drachma in war reparations, the armed forces lacked any real force projection. The Syaran National Fleet was gone, either sunk in the Nuadan Ocean or scuttled off the coast of [[Moddra], and the Army Air Corps lacked long range aircraft. In 1949 training simulations determined the Republic would struggle to supply a force of 30,000 men in Chryse, just a few dozen kilometers from the Syaran mainland. The Syaran army possessed 150 tanks in 1949, all of them left overs from the Siduri War including Beinor, Cyllarus, and Elatus vehicles. In the political sphere there was also significant debate over the future of international relations in Tyran, and what role Syara would play. Different theories were argued by different public officials and politicians. One of the leading theories was that Tyran was gearing towards a multi polar international environment dominated by largely independent powers like Acrea, Ossoria, Cacerta, and Tennai, advocated by the likes of President Zlatarev. Scholars like Borche Kovachev argued otherwise, that Tyran would instead by dominated by large international power blocs based on alliances from the Great War; this theory largely fell out of favor in the 1950s following the dissolution of the Cacertian Empire, the collapse of Quocvangist Quenmin and subsequent impeachment of Thạch Liễng Chánh, and the continuation of the Liberation War in Gylias.

On 30 May 1949 President Zlatarev announced that the Republic of Syara would adopt a strategic policy of armed neutrality, effectively declaring the Republic would see to its own national defense and would no longer rely on the Common Axis for protection. This declaration placed the Republic in a state of contrast with both Cacerta and Tennai, both of whom maintained troops in Syara and were intending to do so in order to fulfill their strategic aims. While Zlatarev did not demand the removal of foreign troops and dismissed the idea that his declaration entailed as such, it was impossible for any of the three governments to ignore the obvious contradictions in the strategic postures of both Syara and the occupying powers.