Opticoelectron () is a Bulgarian manufacturer of

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and

optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radi ...

based in the town of

Panagyurishte Panagyurishte (, also transliterated ''Panagjurište'', ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of Pazardzhik. The town is ...

in the

Pazardzhik Province Pazardzhik Province ( ''Oblast Pazardzhik'', former name Pazardzhik okrug) is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre: the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is that is divided into 12 municipaliti ...

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 ...

. Along with

Optix Nvidia OptiX (OptiX Application Acceleration Engine) is a Ray tracing (graphics), ray tracing API that was first developed around 2009. The computations are offloaded to the GPUs through either the low-level or the high-level API introduced with ...

headquartered in the same town, the company is the main producer of optical equipment for the

defense industry of Bulgaria Bulgaria is a NATO member country with a large indigenous defence industry. Most of its weaponry is of Soviet design, but with significantly improved performance. Bulgaria is ranked as a "medium" small arms exporter according to the Small Arms Su ...

History

Opticoelectron was established in Panagyurishte in January 1971 with the inauguration of a workshop producing

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

es. In June 1971 a decision of the

Council of Ministers of Bulgaria The Council of Ministers (, ''Ministerski savet'') is the main authority of the executive power in the Republic of Bulgaria. It consists of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and all the specialized ministers. Overview Bulgaria employs a dual ...

formally established the state enterprise United Factories Opticoelectron dedicated to the production of opticomechanics and opticoelectronics, that encompassed several factories in Panagyurishte,

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 ...

and

Samokov Samokov ( ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in Samokov Valley between the mountain ranges of Rila, Vitosha and Sredna Gora, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due ...

. The construction of the current premises of the factory began in September 1971 in the western outskirts of Panagyurishte. In the same year in the nearby town of

Strelcha Strelcha ( ) is a small Bulgarian town with a population of 4,284 . The town lies 13 km to the east of Panagyurishte and 41 km to the north of Pazardzhik. It is a capital of homonymous municipality, part of Pazardzhik Province. It is sit ...

was inaugurated the first subsidiary branch of Opticoelectron, the Workshop for Custom Equipment. Throughout the 1970s the factory diversified its products that also included machines for processing optical equipment and started mass production of indigenously developed equipment. By 1982 the United Factories Opticoelectron included 18 production facilities in southwestern half Bulgaria and the factories in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

and

Velingrad Velingrad ( ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, located at the western end of Chepino Valley, part of the Rhodope Mountains. It is the administrative center of the homonymous Velingrad Municipality and one of the most po ...

were restructured in their own enterprises. The plants that remained affiliated with the main factory in Panagyurishte were several workshops in Strelcha, Lesichovo, Karabunar,

Dospat Dospat () is a town in the very south of Bulgaria, part of Smolyan Province, situated in the Rhodope Mountains, close to Dospat Dam. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Dospat Municipality. As of December 2010, the town had a popul ...

and Ihtiman. The 1980s were a period of continuous expansion, with growing range of military and civilian products, increasing quality and revenue. A significant part of output was exported for the military of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the countries of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

. In that period Opticoelectron employed 5,000 workers in Panagyurishte alone, and 12,000 in total throughout Bulgaria. The factory had an important role in the social life of

Panagyurishte Municipality Panagyurishte Municipality is located in the Pazardzhik Province, western Bulgaria. It is one of the 11 municipalities in the province. Its territory is 598,5 km² being fourth in the province after the municipalities of Velingrad, Batak, Bu ...

since the very start of its operation. It maintained numerous clubs that participated in local and national cultural, scientific and sports activities. There were recreational areas in the resort of

Panagyurski kolonii Panagyurski kolonii () is a popular mountain resort with a village status situated 1050 m. above sea level in the Sredna Gora Mountain about 15 km. north of the town of Panagyurishte, Bulgaria. It is typical with its numerous family-owned su ...

. It was also crucial for the establishment of the Professional High School in the town. The profound economic changes following the transition to a market economy after the

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party ( Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БΚП), Romanised: ''Bŭlgarska komunisticheska partiya''; BKP) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria f ...

gave up power in 1989 had a significant impact on Opticoelectron. In 1992 the factory was included in the list of state enterprises for future liquidation. However, despite the difficulties and the reduction of the personnel, production never seized. In 1999 Opticoelectron was privatized and eventually paid back all previous debts. The company successfully found new markets, mainly in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, entering a period of expansion.

Production and facilities

The premises of the company in the western outskirts of Panagyurishte cover an area of 260,000 m², of which 108,000 m² are dedicated to production. Opticoelectron employs 650 workers, of them 150 are engineers, specialized in designing own products and products on demand. It is the largest producer of optical and opticoelectronic equipment and components in the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. Opticoelectron has a closed cycle of production from design to manufacturing and marketing. Over 97% of the production is exported to EU countries,

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. The company produces a wide arrange of military equipment, such as anti-aircraft and ground artillery

sights A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

for firing in daytime and in nighttime; day,

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

and thermal optical sights; SWIR lenses;

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter or laser distance meter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by ...

s; laser target designators; surveillance systems; optical systems for armored vehicles; video observation, etc. Civilian production includes spherical lenses, ocular lenses, micro optics, flat optics, IR optics, glass molding, optical coatings, achromatic doublets and triples, optical assemblies, optical reticles, radii test plates, etc. Opticoelectron directs investments for research, new technologies, machines and efficiency. As part of the national and EU efforts to reduce emissions, in 2023 it commissioned a 5 MW solar power plant within the company's premises.

Citations

External links

* {{coord, 42, 30, 30, N, 24, 9, 1, E, region:BG, display=title Defence companies of Bulgaria Electronics companies of Bulgaria Optics manufacturing companies Buildings and structures in Pazardzhik Province Bulgarian companies established in 1971 Bulgarian brands Panagyurishte