- Title: SERBIA: Once an international pariah, military industry is booming again
- Date: 28th May 2013
- Summary: PHOTO OF FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT, JOSIP BROZ TITO, WITH SNIPER RIFLE
- Embargoed: 12th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Serbia
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: Conflict,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVAF22X05K7DL2IO8Z91NXUZIV6X
- Story Text: Two decades after war ravaged the Balkans, Serbia is seeking to boost its weapons exports to add to the state coffers as it struggles to revive its ailing economy.
The "Zastava oruzje" factory, in the Serbian town Kragujevac some 120 kilometres south of the capital Belgrade, produces handguns, hunting weapons and an array of infantry arms. It has made several lucrative deals this year, including a 42 million US dollars sale to a US-based importer. It recruited an additional 500 workers to meet the demands.
"This is very vital part of the industry, regardless of what happened to us," said its executive director, Rade Gromovic. "It is an important fact that our military (defence) industry... delivers quality products for the world market. And the reaction of the US market is a confirmation of our success. Every day we get a lot of e-mails from US buyers who have bought our weapons and who are more than satisfied with the quality."
Serbia's current arms exports are a fraction of what they were during the 1980s when sales of the Yugoslav weapons industry generated about 2 billion US dollars per year, mainly to African and Asian countries.
"As far as a possible merging of the military industries of the former Yugoslavia is concerned, I believe that it would not be realistic to expect that in the future," Gromovic told Reuters. "Production facilities that remained in, let's say, Bosnia or Croatia, are now mainly a part of the politics of these countries."
But Serbia's state-run military defence industry has made a major comeback after United Nations sanctions during the 1991-1999 wars and NATO bombing in 1999 hit it hard. It has secured about 1.2 billion US dollars in ongoing contracts since 2008 and is now eyeing more multi-million dollar deals. The industry has been steadily growing since the ousting of President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
Serbia now sells ammunition, infantry weapons and missiles, light trainer aircraft and artillery pieces.
Krusik Holding, a weapons factory in the western city of Valjevo that was severely damaged during the NATO bombing of 1999, is enjoying boom times. It now sells about 35 million US dollars of mortar shells to Iraq and NATO countries annually.
The state-owned weapons exporter "Yugoimport SDPR" has secured a deal with Iraq, valued at about 235 million US dollars. In a first deal, Iraq purchased 20 'Lasta-95' training aircraft and has discreetly announced that the number could be higher.
"We are concentrating on the markets, but we are not the only ones," said Nenad Miloradovic, executive director of "YugoImport SDPR". "The competition is getting stronger and much more complex than in the days (of former Yugoslavia). Therefore, there are markets in North Africa, sub-Saharan states, the Middle and Far East which have been some of the biggest markets for weapons in the last 50 years. Other markets that have experienced major growth over the last seven or eight years are markets in Southern and Southeast Asia."
A wave of new hirings have spread through the companies, Miloradovic told Reuters.
"Over the last couple of years, and depending on the factory, we have hired a significant number of new people," he said.
Serbia's military defence industry is still eyeing more multi-million dollars deals, including the overhaul of Yugoslav-made M84 tanks exported to Kuwait in 1990 and 1991.
"We have to say that the (current) events in the Arabic world partially complicate our presence in those markets. But when you look into the official statistics, we see that we have increased our presence in North Africa and the Middle and Far Eastern markets," said General Bojan Zrnic, Head of the Defence Technology Department and material resources at the Ministry of Defence.
He said export sales of weapons and military equipment had risen steadily over the past decade, contributing to the overall growth.
"In the last four years, the average sales per year were about 250 million (US) dollars, compared with 50 million dollars from 2003 to 2007," he told Reuters. "That means they are almost five times greater." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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