llies on an equal priority basis. Distribution has depended
upon the strategic importance of the recipient, capability for
maintaining and using the equipment effectively, and probable
reliability as an alliance partner. Romania is located where it would
not be involved in first contacts with any potential enemy of the pact;
its conscripts' tour, and the resulting time to train individual
soldiers, is short; it is an underdeveloped country; and it has been
probing for ways to assert its independence from Moscow. It has not
therefore been the first to receive newer equipment. The distribution
of tanks is illustrative. Romania has received adequate numbers to equip
its combat units and has received all models that have been distributed
among the pact allies. Romania, however, has been authorized a smaller
ratio of armored, as compared with motorized-rifle, divisions than is
average for pact members. Poland and Czechoslovakia have many more
tanks, and larger percentages of them are modern.

Ground forces have Soviet-made artillery, antitank guns and antitank
wire-guided missiles, and some short-range surface-to-surface missiles.
Weapons manufactured locally for the ground forces include all types of
hand-carried weapons, antitank and antipersonnel grenade launchers, and
mortars. Ammunition and explosives for most weapons, whether or not the
weapon is locally produced, are manufactured in the country, as are
common varieties of communication equipment and spare parts.

All of the air forces' combat aircraft and nearly all of its training
and miscellaneous types are received from the Soviet Union. Romania
produces some small utility models. A new one, designed for spraying
forests and crops, was introduced in 1970 and can be used for military
liaison.

Approximately the same situation exists with regard to naval vessels.
The larger vessels and more complex smaller craft are built in the
Soviet Union or by other members of the pact. Romania produces river
craft and some smaller types, probably including the inshore
minesweepers that operate in the Black Sea.

Romania is attempting to reduce its dependence upon the Warsaw Pact by
producing more military materiel within the country. The armed forces
maintain the Military Achievements Exhibit, designed to show progress in
local production capability. The exhibit is visited periodically by
important party and government personalities. Much is made of these
visits, attempting