JSC Arsenal AD () is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

based in

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( , known as Seuthopolis () in ancient times, is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town in Stara Zagora Province, Bulgaria. It is located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan Mountains, Balkan mo ...

, engaged primarily in the manufacture of

firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

and military equipment. It is

's oldest arms supplier.

History

The company's history can be traced back to 1878 with the first armory in the country - the Ruse Artillery Arsenal. Due to strategic concerns, it was relocated to

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

in 1891. After the nation's defeat in the

Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in 1924 the company and all of its equipment were relocated to

, a town situated in central

. The armory was given the name ("State Military Factory"). Initially producing only artillery gun components and ammunition, the factory later began to manufacture

gas mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

s (1920s),

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG) (alternative spelling nitroglycerine), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by ...

(1930s),

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, Boring (manufacturing), boring, grinding (abrasive cutting), grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some s ...

s (1940s) and finally assault rifles, optic sights and

B-10 recoilless rifle The B-10 recoilless rifle (''Bezotkatnojie orudie-10'', known as the RG82 in East Germany) is a Soviet Union, Soviet 82 mm smoothbore recoilless rifle, recoilless gun. It could be carried on the rear of a BTR-50 armoured personnel carrier. It ...

s (1950s). The first assault rifle, a direct copy of the Soviet

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

, was produced in 1958. By the 1960s, a total of seven factories were under the company's jurisdiction. Until the

Fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

in 1989-1990, the company was named ''Mashinostroitelen kombinat Fridrih Engels'' ("

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Bulgarrenault Bulgarrenault (or Bulgar Renault) was an automobile produced in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the result of a collaboration between Metalhim (a Bulgarian defence firm) and Bulet (a Bulgarian export trade organisation). Production lasted for ...

-8. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Arsenal began cooperation with companies from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Currently, Arsenal AD is a private company conducting international arms trade, although it also expands its civilian exports, now including high-precision metalworking machinery, mobile robot manipulators and

synthetic diamond A synthetic diamond or laboratory-grown diamond (LGD), also called a lab-grown, laboratory-created, man-made, artisan-created, artificial, or cultured diamond, is a diamond that is produced in a controlled technological process, in contrast to ...

Current military production

Pistols

* Arsenal Compact * Makarov

Submachine guns

* Shipka SMG (

9×18mm Makarov The 9×18mm Makarov (designated 9mm Makarov by the C.I.P. and often called 9×18mm PM) is a pistol and submachine gun cartridge developed in the former USSR. During the latter half of the 20th century, it was a standard military pistol cartrid ...

9×19mm Parabellum The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or simply 9mm) is a Rim (firearms)#Rimless, rimless, Centerfire ammunition, centerfire, tapered cartridge (firearms), firearms cartridge. Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer ...

)

Assault rifles

Light Machine Guns

* LMG/ LMG-F -

RPK The RPK (, English: "Kalashnikov's hand-held machine gun"), sometimes inaccurately termed the RPK-47, is a Soviet 7.62×39mm light machine gun that was developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the early 1960s, in parallel with the AKM assault rifl ...

variants in 7.62×39mm, 5.45×39mm or 5.56×45mm NATO chambering

General Purpose Machine Guns

* MG-M1/1M/M1S/1MS/1MS/1MV- Licensed PK machine gun chambered in 7.62×54mmR. * MG-M2/M2S/ - PK machine gun modification chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO. The M2S variant has a tripod.

Grenade launchers

* Lavina - 40mm semi-automatic revolver-type grenade launcher; * Arsenal MSGL - 40×46mm multi-shot grenade launcher; somewhat similar to the

Milkor MGL The Milkor MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a lightweight 40 mm six-shot revolver-type grenade launcher (variations also fire 37/38mm) developed and manufactured in South Africa by Milkor (Pty) Ltd. The MGL was demonstrated as a concept to t ...

* UBGL series - underbarrel grenade launchers for all AR and AK series of assault rifles, the Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine,

M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by the US mi ...

and

M16 rifle The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States Armed Forces, United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56×45mm automatic ...

s * ATGL-L - a lighter RPG-7 version with a more powerful warhead and a

red dot sight A red dot sight is a common classification for a non- magnifying reflector (or reflex) sight that provides an illuminated red dot to the user as a point of aim. A standard design uses a red light-emitting diode (LED) at the focus of collimati ...

; * ATGL-H - a heavier SPG-9 copy with a higher muzzle velocity; * AGL-30M - a heavier, more durable variant of the AGS-17 Plamya

Mortars

* M60MA - 60mm mortar * M60CMA - 60mm commando mortar (handheld) * M81MA - 81mm mortar * M82MA - 82mm mortar

Air Defense Systems

* ADS -

ZU-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Develo ...

variant with advanced sights and a computerized fire control system * ADS-N - Navy version

Other firearms and products

* BARR series - bolt-action hunting rifles, based on AK series; * SAR series - semi-automatic hunting rifles * HE-FRAG and flash bang

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

Munitions

* Small arms ammunition -

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...

, 7.62×39mm,

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...

, 7.62×54mmR * Artillery rounds -

23×115mm The 23×115mm round is used in Soviet (USSR)/Russian/ CIS aircraft autocannon. Although superseded by the 30×165mm round the Russian Air Force still uses it in the GSh-23L (in the aircraft's tail turrets and in the UPK-23-250 gun pod) and th ...

23×152mmB The 23×152mmB is a large-caliber cartridge used by the USSR/ CIS in the VYa-23 aircraft autocannon, the Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft, and in the 2A7 and 2A14 autocannons on the ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun series and ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", ...

, 30×165mm * Rounds for grenade launchers - 30mm for

AGS-17 The AGS-17 Plamya ( Russian: Пламя; ''Flame'') is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher in service worldwide. Description The AGS-17 is a heavy infantry support weapon designed to operate from a tripod or mounted on an installation ...

and

AGS-30 The AGS-30 is a Russian automatic grenade launcher currently in production in Russia and in service with the Russian armed forces. Description Designed on the basis of AGS-17, the AGS-30 provides better mobility, longer range and better accuracy ...

, 40x46mm low velocity, 40mm VOG-25, 40x53mm high velocity * Rounds for anti-tank systems -

RPG-7 The RPG-7 is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are now manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has t ...

SPG-9 The SPG-9 Kopyo (, transliterated: ''Stankovyi Protivotankovyi Granatomet "Kopyo"'' - Easel Anti-tank Grenade Launcher "Spear") is a tripod-mounted man-portable, 73mm caliber recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. It fires fin-stabilized, ...

, 2A28 * Mortar bombs - 60mm, 81mm, 82mm and 120mm * Hand grenades * Unguided aviation rockets

Other products

Computer Numerical Control Computer numerical control (CNC) or CNC machining is the Automation, automated control of machine tools by a computer. It is an evolution of numerical control (NC), where machine tools are directly managed by data storage media such as punched ...

(CNC) equipment * Cemented Carbide Inserts * Cemented Carbide Tips * Cemented Carbide Special Tools * Hunting Powders "Sokol", "Mars", "Magia" * Nitrocellulose for Lacquer Production * Nitrocellulose for Dynamite Production

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

History of Arsenal AD

Arsenal, Inc. (US importer)
* Blue Book Publication
''ARSENAL, BULGARIA'' companyinformation
(archiveversion) Defence companies of Bulgaria Bulgarian companies established in 1878 Kazanlak