Defense industry of Bulgaria

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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 Survey. [1]

Contents

History

Despite having local arms factories, until 1944 Bulgaria relied mostly on imports to equip its military. 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.

After the loss of Warsaw Pact and secondary markets, surplus weapons, as well as newly manufactured items, were illicitly exported to a variety of countries and rebel groups across Africa and Asia. [2]

Manufacturers

Products

Small arms

Artillery

Air defence equipment

Anti-tank weapons

Armored vehicles

A Bulgarian-made MT-LB used by the USMC MT-LB US Marines.jpg
A Bulgarian-made MT-LB used by the USMC

Missiles and rockets

Ammunition

Other

Customers

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References

  1. Small Arms Survey 2011: States of Security (PDF). Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2012.
  2. Bulgaria Becomes a Weapons Bazaar, The New York Times, 3 August 1998
  3. "ARSENAL Home Page". Arsenal.bg. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  4. "ТЕРЕМ – Българските военноремонтни заводи". Terem.bg. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
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  8. "Apolo.bg - the best equipment: Garments, suits, jackets, trousers". Archived from the original on 2011-08-19. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
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  11. "US Analyst Expects Bulgaria to Renew Production of BMP Armored Vehicles". Novinite.com. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  12. "Bulgaria has signed contract for sale of 500 MT-LB multirole tracked armored vehicles to Iraq". Army Recognition. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  13. 1 2 ""Ер Франс" закарала БГ картечници в Конго". trud.bg. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  14. Angelovski, Ivan (27 July 2016). "Revealed: the £1bn of weapons flowing from Europe to Middle East" via www.theguardian.com.
  15. Marzouk, Ivan Angelovski and Lawrence. "Revealed: The Pentagon Is Spending Up To $2.2 Billion on Soviet-Style Arms for Syrian Rebels". OCCRP.