Arsenal AD
 | |
| Public | |
| Industry | Defense |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Headquarters | Kazanlak, Bulgaria |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Nikolai Ibushev (General Director) |
| Products |
Firearms Air defense equipment Artillery Munitions Explosives ED devices Industrial machinery |
 € 51,300,000 (2008)[1] | |
Number of employees | 7,000 (2010)[2] |
| Website | arsenal-bg.com |
Arsenal AD (Bulgarian: Арсенал АД) 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
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 in Sofia in 1891. After the nation's defeat in the Second Balkan War and World War I, in 1924 the company and all of its equipment were relocated in Kazanlak, a town situated in central Bulgaria. The armory was given the name Darzhavna voenna fabrika ("State Military Factory").
Initially producing only artillery gun components and ammunition, the factory later began to manufacture gas masks (1920s), nitroglycerin (1930s), machine tools (1940s) and finally assault rifles, optic sights and B-10 recoilless rifles (1950s). The first assault rifle, a direct copy of the Soviet AK-47, was produced in 1958. By the 1960s a total of seven factories were under the company's jurisdiction. Until the Fall of Communism in 1989-1990, the company was named Mashinostroitelen kombinat Fridrikh Engels ("Friedrich Engels Machinery Works") to conceal its activities as a military enterprise. As part of this strategy it adopted the manufacture of various civilian products, including automobiles such as the then-popular Bulgarrenault-8. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Arsenal began cooperation with companies from Japan, Sweden, Ukraine and Germany.
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 diamonds.
Military production
Pistols and submachine guns
- P-MO2 (9×19mm Arsenal)
- Shipka SMG (9×18mm Makarov / 9×19mm Parabellum)
Assault rifles
- AR-M1 / AR-M1F - improved AK-47 copy with an AK-74 front sight base, flash suppressor, black polymer stock set, luminous spots on the iron sights and a rail for mounting optics. The -F model features a folding stock. Chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×39mm.
- AR-M2 / AR-M2F - improved AK-47 copy like the AR-M1/AR-M1F, but with a shortened barrel, AKS-74U front sight base and muzzle booster/flash suppressor hybrid.
- AR-M4SF - extremely short development of the AKS-74 with red dot sight, provision to mount a night vision or laser sight. Chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×39mm.
- AR-M7F - improved AK-47 copy like the AR-M1, but with an AK-101-style folding stock.
- AR-M9 / AR-M9F - improved AK-47 copy like the AR-M1/AR-M1F, features a thumb-operable fire selector and a different style polymer stock set.
- AR-1 / AR-1F - improved AK-47 copies with black polymer lining and luminous sights.
- AR-SF - based on AKS-74U with laser aim indicator. Chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×39mm.
Machine guns
- LMG/LMG-F - RPK copies in 7.62×39mm, 5.45×39mm or 5.56×45mm NATO chambering
- Arsenal MG series - different versions of the PK machine gun, all with polymer lining and slightly higher muzzle velocity;
Grenade launchers
- Lavina - 40mm semi-automatic revolver-type grenade launcher;[3]
- Arsenal MSGL - 40×46mm multi-shot grenade launcher; somewhat similar to the Milkor MGL
- UBGL series - underbarrel grenade launchers for all AR and AK series of assault rifles, the Bushmaster M4 Type Carbine, M4 carbine and M16 rifles
- ATGL-L - a lighter RPG-7 version with a more powerful warhead and a red dot sight;
- ATGL-H - a heavier SPG-9 copy with a higher muzzle velocity;
- AGL-30M - a heavier, more durable copy of the AGS-17 Plamya
Artillery and AA guns
- M6-210 - 60mm mortar
- M8 - 81mm mortar
- M82 - 82mm mortar
- ADS - a ZU-23-2 copy with advanced sights and a computerized fire control system
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 grenades
Munitions
- Bullets and shells of all calibres and sorts;
- S-5 rockets
Other products
- Computer Numerical Control (CNC) equipment
- Universal Drilling & Milling Machines
- Universal Milling Machines
- Universal Drilling Machines
- Robot manipulators
- Synthetic diamonds
- Horizontal Milling Machines
- Horizontal Drilling Machines
- Vertical Milling Machines
- Vertical Drilling Machines
- Milling Heads
- Cemented Carbide Inserts
- Cemented Carbide Tips
- Cemented Carbide Special Tools
- Hunting Powders "Sokol", "Mars", "Magia"
- Nitrocellulose for Lacquer Production
- Nitrocellulose for Dynamite Production
See also
- TEREM, another Bulgarian arms manufacturing company
- Defense industry of Bulgaria