Defense industry of Bulgaria
Encyclopedia
Bulgaria
is 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 Survey
.
. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian defence industry was capable of producing training and light attack aircraft, such as the DAR-10
and Laz-7. After the installment of a Communist government the same year, the country started a process of massive industrialization, but continued to import equipment. By the 1980s
a large part of the equipment came from local suppliers. In the late 1980s exports reached about $800 mln. annually, trade partners being mostly Egypt
, Algeria
, Angola
, North Korea
, Libya
, Syria
, Iraq
, Cuba
and Vietnam
.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
is NATO member country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
with a large indigenous defence industry. Most of its weaponry is of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
design, but with significantly improved performance. Bulgaria is ranked as a "medium" small arms exporter according to the Small Arms Survey
Small Arms Survey
The Small Arms Survey is an independent research project located at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland...
.
History
Despite having local arms factories, until 1944 Bulgaria relied mostly on imports to equip its militaryMilitary of Bulgaria
The Military of Bulgaria, officially the Bulgarian Army represents the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Commander-in-Chief is the President of Bulgaria . The Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership while military command remains in the hands of the General Staff,...
. Nevertheless, the Bulgarian defence industry was capable of producing training and light attack aircraft, such as the DAR-10
DAR-10
-See also:...
and Laz-7. After the installment of a Communist government the same year, the country started a process of massive industrialization, but continued to import equipment. By the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
a large part of the equipment came from local suppliers. In the late 1980s exports reached about $800 mln. annually, trade partners being mostly Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
, Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
.
Manufacturers
- Arsenal ADArsenal ADArsenal AD is a Bulgarian joint-stock company based in Kazanlak, engaged primarily in the manufacture of firearms and military equipment. It is Bulgaria's oldest arms supplier.- History :...
- oldest weapons manufacturer (est. 1878), largest machine-building company in the country; produces pistols, sub-machine guns, assault rifles, light machine guns, machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, air-defense systems, anti-tank grenade launchers, automatic grenade launchers, ammunition for small arms, artillery rounds, bombs, anti-tank weapons ammunition, unguided rockets and others; - TEREMTEREMTEREM is a Bulgarian arms supplier for the Bulgarian armed forces. It is also engaged with repairing military aircraft and vehicles, as well as their components. It is partly responsible for the local production of APCs and IFVs, radio equipment and spare parts for different types of machinery....
- mostly ammunition and spares; - VMZ SopotVMZ SopotVazovski Mashinostroitelni Zavodi Co. is the biggest enterprise of the military and industrial complex in Bulgaria.- History :The first stone in its foundation was laid on 9 June 1936, and on 12 July 1940 an inaugural ceremony to open the state military factory was held...
- anti-tank guided and unguided missiles, aviation unguided missiles and artillery ammunition; - Samel 90Samel 90Samel 90 was established in 1964 aiming at satisfying the needs of the Bulgarian Army of Electronic Communication Equipment. After 1990 the traditional range of special purpose products has been enriched with consumer electronics in the fields of telecommunications, specialized electronics for...
- communication equipment, surface-to-air missiles and others; - Armstechno - drones and UAVs;
- Apolo GmbH - uniforms;
- State military technology institute
Small arms
- AR series - AR-M1 assault rifle and others. The basic AR-M1 is chambered in 5.45x39 mm, has a 600 rpm rate of fire, 900 m/sec muzzle velocity, nearly 600 g lighter than the original AK-74AK-74The AK-74 is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s in the Soviet Union as the replacement for the earlier AKM...
(loaded weight), somewhat more durable, a rail for an optical or reflex sights. - AKS-74uAK-74The AK-74 is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s in the Soviet Union as the replacement for the earlier AKM...
assault rifle - Arsenal ShipkaArsenal ShipkaThe Shipka is a 9 mm Bulgarian submachine gun produced in 1996 by the Bulgarian company Arsenal. The name is a reference to the famous Shipka Pass, near Arsenal's Kazanlak headquarters, in the Balkans where Bulgarian volunteers and Russian troops defeated the Ottoman Empire during the...
submachine gun - LMGRPKThe RPK is a 7.62x39mm light machine gun of Soviet design, developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the late 1950s, parallel with the AKM assault/battle rifle...
light machine gun - MG-M1PK machine gunThe PK is a 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun designed in the Soviet Union and currently in production in Russia. The PK machine gun was introduced in the 1960s and replaced the SGM and RPD machine guns in Soviet service...
general purpose machine gun - Arcus 98DA pistol
- Makarov PMMakarov PMThe PM is a semi-automatic pistol design. Under the project leadership of Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov, it became the Soviet Union's standard military side arm from 1951-1991.-Development:...
pistol
Artillery
- Mortars - 60-120 mm
- 2S12 Tundzha SP mortars (two variants - 82 and 120 mm)
- 2S1 Karamfil SP howitzers
Air defence equipment
- SA-7B Grail MANPADS
- SA-14 Gremlin MANPADS
- SA-16 Gimlet MANPADS
- SA-18 GrouseSA-18 GrouseThe 9K38 Igla is a Russian/Soviet man-portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile . "9K38" is the Russian GRAU designation of the system...
MANPADS
Anti-tank weapons
- SPG-9SPG-9The SPG-9 Kopye is a Russian tripod-mounted man-portable, 73 millimetre calibre recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. It fires fin-stabilised, rocket-assisted HE and HEAT projectiles similar to those fired by the 73 mm 2A28 Grom low pressure gun of the BMP-1 vehicle...
DNM recoilless rifle - RPG-7RPG-7The RPG-7 is a widely-produced, portable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Originally the RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and now manufactured by the Bazalt company...
grenade launcher - RPG-22RPG-22The Soviet RPG-22 Netto is a one-shot disposable anti-tank rocket launcher first deployed in 1985, based on the RPG-18 rocket launcher, but firing a larger 72.5 mm fin stabilised projectile. The weapon can be prepared to fire in around 10 seconds, and can penetrate 400 mm of armour, 1.2 meters of...
one-shot disposable rocket launcher (issued as a round of ammunition) - AT-3 SaggerAT-3 SaggerThe 9K11 Malyutka is a Manual Command to Line-of-Sight wire-guided anti-tank guided missile developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided missile of the Soviet Union and is probably the most widely produced ATGM of all time—with Soviet production peaking at...
ATGM - AT-4 SpigotAT-4 SpigotThe 9K111 Fagot is a SACLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union. "9M111" is the GRAU designation of the missile. Its NATO reporting name is AT-4 Spigot.-Development:...
ATGM - AT-5 SpandrelAT-5 SpandrelThe 9M113 Konkurs SACLOS wire-guided Anti-tank missile of the Soviet Union. "9M113" is the GRAU designation of the missile. Its NATO reporting name is AT-5 Spandrel.-Development:...
ATGM
Armored vehicles
- MT-LBMT-LBThe MT-LB is a Soviet multi-purpose fully amphibious auxiliary armoured vehicle which was first introduced in the late 1960s...
in different versions - BMP-23BMP-23The BMP-23 is a Bulgarian infantry fighting vehicle which was first introduced in the early 1980s. Despite its name, the BMP-23 is very different from the BMP-1 and more similar to BMP-2. The hull is based around that of the Soviet 2S1 Gvozdika, but with thicker armour and a more powerful diesel...
- BTR-60BTR-60The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers. It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen first time in public in 1961...
: - BTR-60PAU - Artillery command variant of the BTR-60PA with 4 whip antennas.
- BTR-60PB with Polish WAT turret from SKOT-2AP. Only a prototype was made.
- BTR-60PB-MD (bronyetransport’or moderniziran) - BTR-60PB upgraded with VAMO DT3900 or Rover TD-200 diesel engine, four MB smoke grenade dischargers on the turret (two on each side), "Melopa" night sight, new day sight, new NBC protection system and modern radios. It also has a rear view mirror on the left hand side of the hull. Only a prototype was made.
- BTR-60PB-MD1 - Version for the Bulgarian army, powered by a Cummins ISB 25.30 turbocharged Euro 3 diesel engine of 250 hp and fitted with side hatches. About 150 in service.
- BTR-60PB-MD3 - export model, fitted with a KamAZ diesel engine, different sights and eight additional smoke grenade launchers in the front right corner of the hull. The prototype, shown in 2004, was based on a BTR-60PA.
Ammunition
- StarshelStarshelR-045/R-046 Starshel is a type of electronic countermeasures ammunition, fired by 122 mm or 152 mm artillery guns, respectively...
ECM round - RPG rounds
- 5.45, 5.56, 7.62, 9, 12.7, 14.5, 23, 40, 57, 60, 73, 81, 82, 100, 120, 122, 125125 mm smoothbore roundsThe following is a list of ammunition fired by 125 mm Smoothbore guns series used in the T-64, T-72, T-80, M-84 and T-90 tanks as well as the 2A45 Sprut Anti-Tank gun.-APFSDS-T:...
, 130, 152 mm ammunition
Other
- Armstechno NITIArmstechno NITI- References :*...
drone - Armstechno Dulo UCAV
- jammers for remotely detonated bombs
- UBGL-1 underbarrel grenade launcher in different variants
- handheld radios
- guidance systems for missiles
- avionicsAvionicsAvionics are electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites and spacecraft.Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to meet individual roles...
for aircraft - uniforms and helmets
- optical instruments
- night visionNight visionNight vision is the ability to see in low light conditions. Whether by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range...
equipment