Zastava Arms
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Zastava Arms ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Застава oружје, Zastava oružje) is a Serbian manufacturer of
firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
s and
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
, based in
Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...
,
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannon. It is the leading producer of firearms in Serbia and is a large contributor to the local defense industry. Zastava Arms produces and exports a wide variety of products to over forty countries, including the popular
Zastava M70 The Zastava M70 ( sr-Cyrl, Застава М70) is a 7.62x39mm assault rifle. Developed in Yugoslavia by Zastava Arms during the 1960s, the M70 was an unlicensed derivative of the Soviet AK-47 (specifically the Type 3 variant). It became the st ...
, a
Kalashnikov rifle A Kalashnikov (Калашников) rifle is any one of a series of automatic rifles based on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomát Kaláshnikova" ( rus, Автома́т Кала́шник ...
.


History

The successful production of four four-pound cannons and two short
howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...
s on 27 October 1853 is date of foundation of Zastava Arms in
Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...
. Between 1856 and 1860, the facilities in Kragujevac received many upgrades to its manufacturing system, eventually allowing the plant to produce weapons with full parts interchangeability. In 1878, one of the main priorities became the modernization of armaments. Serbian rifle „Piboduša“ Model 1870 Peabody became obsolete with their large 14,9mm caliber. After a research project and a competitive tender in 1879, a new model rifle was chosen as the replacement. The first domestic-made repeating rifle, a derivative of the
Mauser Model 1871 The Mauser Model 1871 adopted as the ''Gewehr'' 71 or ''Infanterie-Gewehr'' 71, or "Infantry Rifle 71" ("I.G.Mod.71" was stamped on the rifles themselves) was the first rifle model in a distinguished line designed and manufactured by Paul Mauser ...
bolt-action rifle, was designed in 1880 by Kosta Milovanović and was named '' Mauzer Milovanović M. 1880'', known as "Mauser-Koka" or "Koka's Rifle", after its designer. The weapon was first manufactured in Germany and was called the Mauser-Milovanović M1878/80, cal. 10,15mm. In 1924 and 1925, the Ministry of the Interior signed contracts with FN Herstal,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
which allowed the production of
M24 series The FN Model 24 series is a line of Mauser Gewehr 98 pattern bolt-action battle rifles produced by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale. They are similar to the Czech vz. 24 rifle, featuring open sights, 8×57mm IS chambering, carbine-length barrels ...
bolt-action rifles chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser. A factory for production of rifles and infantry ammunition was also built. The factory for production of infantry ammunition began production on 22 March 1928 and the factory for production of rifles and ammunition began operation on October 15 (the 75th anniversary of the first casting of cannons in Kragujevac). In 1930, the factory started the production of signal pistols 26 mm M 1929 on a
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
n license. In July 1936, the factory received a license from the Czechoslovakian
Zbrojovka Brno Pre-war Československá zbrojovka, akc.spol. (or a.s.) (Czechoslovak Armory)and post-war Zbrojovka Brno, n.p.(Brno Armory) was a maker of small arms, light artillery, and motor vehicles in Brno, Czechoslovakia. It also made other products and ...
to produce the light machinegun
ZB vz. 26 The ZB vz. 26 was a Czechoslovak light machine gun developed in the 1920s, which went on to enter service with several countries. It saw its major use during World War II, and spawned the related ZB vz. 27, vz. 30, and vz. 33. The ZB vz. 26 influe ...
7.9 mm M 1937. Zastava Arms was heavily damaged during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. When Kragujevac was liberated on 21 October 1944, the weapons factory was repaired to working order within months and production began shortly after, with the 9mm M 1944 B2 submachine gun developed the same year. The next postwar production rifle was the 7.92×57mm Mauser Model 1948 based on the
Model 24 ''Stielhandgranate'' is the German term for " stick hand grenade" (translation: "shaft hand grenade") and generally refers to a prominent series of World War I and World War II-era German stick grenade designs, distinguished by their long woo ...
. The production of air rifles and sporting rifles on the basis of the M48 rifle started in 1953. In 1954, Zastava started the production of shotguns and small bore rifles, as well as the 7.9 mm M53 ¨Sarac¨ machine gun. Batch production of the 7.62×39mm PAP M59 semi-automatic rifle started in 1964. In the 1964, the factory started the development of an automatic rifle based on the
Kalashnikov system A Kalashnikov (Калашников) rifle is any one of a series of automatic rifles based on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomát Kaláshnikova" ( rus, Автома́т Кала́шник ...
, which was designated the M67 in 1967. On the basis of the M67 rifle, the factory developed an automatic rifle chambered in 7.62×39mm, which was named the
Zastava M70 The Zastava M70 ( sr-Cyrl, Застава М70) is a 7.62x39mm assault rifle. Developed in Yugoslavia by Zastava Arms during the 1960s, the M70 was an unlicensed derivative of the Soviet AK-47 (specifically the Type 3 variant). It became the st ...
in the following year. The
Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...
adopted the M70 assault rifle into its arsenal in 1970. Small arms derivatives of the M70 produced rifles chambered in Western bloc ammunition such as 7.62×51mm NATO and 5.56×45mm NATO were also produced. In 1988, the factory developed a compact pistol in 9 mm Parabellum, the M88. In the 1980s, the plant for the M84, M86 in 7.62×54mmR and 12.7 NSV M87 machine guns began to operate. In July 1989, Zastava started the development of a double-action pistol in caliber 9mm PARA
CZ 99 The Zastava CZ99 is a semi-automatic pistol produced by Zastava Arms. It was developed in 1989 to replace the M57 in the Yugoslav military and police. The frame design was influenced by the SIG P226 albeit with some ambidextrous controls like ...
. In 1992, the factory finished the development and testing and started batch production of the 7.62 mm M92 submachine gun, based on the M85 submachine gun. Using the Mauser mechanism, the factory developed a 12.7 mm long range rifle, the Black Arrow M93. During the
Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...
of 1991 to 1995, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
placed
economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they may ...
on the import and export of weapons from Yugoslavia. Production slowed as a result. In 1999, the factory was damaged by
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
bombing. In 2005, a memorandum of understanding was signed with
Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC was an American manufacturer of firearms and ammunition, now broken into two companies, each bearing the Remington name. The firearms manufacturer is ''Remington Arms''. The ammunition business is called ''Remingto ...
to export hunting and sporting guns to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. From 2005 to 2014, Zastava Arms underwent restructuring. In 2013, the Government of Serbia made a decision to convert debt of defense industry companies to state into shares in a company, with Zastava Arms owing the most at over 80 million euros in taxes. However, the realization of that decision has been postponed indefinitely, making Zastava Arms the most indebted defense industry company in Serbia. The Government of Serbia invested 9.7 million euros in the factory's modernization in 2017, for the needs of defense industry. In January 2019, the creation of Zastava Arms USA was announced, which would serve as "exclusive importer and distributor" of Zastava Arms products for the US market. As of June 2019, company's debt in taxes increased to 85 million euros, with total debt being at around 145 million euros. Production of firearms in 2020 increased 20%, despite the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The deals made in 2020 were worth 95 million dollars, with buyers mostly from Asia, Africa and the United States.


Products

*Semi-automatic sporting rifles/pistols:
Zastava PAP series The Zastava PAP ( sr, Полу-аутоматска пушка/пиштољ / ''Polu-automatska puška/pištolj'', "Semi-automatic rifle/pistol") are a series of Serbian sporting rifles based on the Zastava M70 and Zastava M77B1. They are nearly i ...
*Bolt-action rifles: Zastava M48 *Semi-automatic rifles: Zastava PAP M59 *Submachine guns: M56, M97, Master FLG *Sniper rifles: M76, M91, M07 *Pistols: P25, M57/M70A, M70, M88, CZ99, PPZ *Select-fire rifles: M70, M77, M80, M85, M90, M92, M21, M19, M05, M17 * Machine guns: M1937;
Light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...
s: M72, M77, M84;
Heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...
s: M87, M02 Coyote *Anti-materiel rifles and other:
M93 Black Arrow The M93 Black Arrow ( sr, М93 Црна стрела/''M93 Crna strela'') is a 12.7×108mm anti-materiel rifle developed and manufactured by Zastava Arms. Overview The rifle was designed in 1993 and entered production in 1998. The primary purpose ...
, M12 Black Spear


Anti-aircraft autocannons


See also

*
Defense industry of Serbia The defense industry of Serbia is the largest in the Western Balkans. For the 2018 calendar year, Serbia's export of weapons and military equipment was valued at $897 million (€796 million). It consists of around 200 companies, both public and pr ...
*
Equipment of the Serbian Armed Forces This is a list of equipment used by the Serbian Armed Forces. Current equipment Firearms Protective gear Armoured vehicles Unarmoured vehicles Artillery Anti-armour Aircraft Air defence Radars River vessels Modernizati ...


References


External links

*
Official U.S. website
{{authority control 1850s establishments in Serbia Companies based in Kragujevac Companies established in 1853 Firearm manufacturers of Serbia Government-owned companies of Serbia Defense companies of Serbia Defense industry of Serbia Serbian brands