Serbia's weapons producer attracts US companies

Serbia's weapons producer attracts US companies

The state-owned company, Zastava Oružje, plans to pick a partner by the end of this month to form a unit that will sell revolvers, hunting guns and long-range sniping rifles in the US, General Manager Dragoljub Grujović said today. Seven US companies have expressed interest, he said, without naming any.

“Zastava was exporting to the US for years, but the wars ended that between 1991 to 2001,” Grujović said in a telephone interview. “This is a great opportunity for us to renew our exports to the US, which is a giant market.''

Zastava Oružje was founded 153 years ago as a foundry making canons with the Serb coat of arms, according to its Web site. It later made weapons for soldiers in both World Wars and a cheaper version of the AK-47 rifle for Yugoslav forces under Tito. The company then made equipment for troops under Milosevic, who died in March while on trial at the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

The factory was damaged during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999, strikes that were designed to end the crackdown by Serbian troops against ethnic Albanians in the southern province of Kosovo. The company restarted production in 2000.

The joint venture, to be called Zastava Arms USA, would only sell arms in the first year before producing its own weapons in the second year of operation, Grujović said by telephone.

Remington Guns

Zastava Oružje, which exports to the US, Mexico, Africa and Asia, already has a contract with Remington Arms Company Inc., the oldest gun maker in the US, for 24,000 hunting rifles worth about 4 million dollars going on sale this year.

“We're negotiating another contract for 2007,'' Grujović said. “Our cooperation with Remington could help us double our sales in America,'' he said.

The Serbian government's press office said the initial contract was signed on Oct. 18, 2005. Remington, based in Madison, North Carolina, includes models 799 and 798 in its latest catalog, which Grujović identified as Zastava's. Remington's information department said those guns are made in Serbia and will go on sale in the US at the end of the current quarter.

Zastava Oružje is boosting production of hunting and sporting arms by 50 percent within next few years, Grujović said.