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Zastava Arms

File:Zastava Arms logo.jpg
Native name	Zastava oružje / Застава oружје
Company type	Joint-stock company
Industry	Arms industry
Founded	31 December 2000; 24 years ago (2000-12-31) (Current form) 27 October 1853; 171 years ago (1853-10-27) (Originally founded)
Headquarters	Kragujevac, Serbia
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Firearms, artillery
Revenue	€29.62 million (2016)
Net income	-€4.62 million (2016)
Total assets	€128.87 million (2016)
Total equity	€18.84 million (2016)
Owner	Serbian Development Fund (49.52%) Government of Serbia (47.99%) Jugobanka (bankrupt)(1.72%) Kragujevac (0.76%)
Number of employees	2,375 (2016)
Website	www.zastava-arms.rs
Footnotes / references Business ID: 07249845 Tax ID: 101508753

Zastava Arms (Serbian Cyrillic: Застава oружје) is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery, based in Kragujevac, Serbia. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannons. It is the leading producer of firearms in Serbia and is a large contributor to the local defense industry. Zastava Arms produces and exports a wide variety of products to over forty countries.

Zastava Arms produces the popular Zastava M70, a Kalashnikov rifle.

History

The successful production of four four-pound cannons and two short howitzers on October 27, 1853 is date of foundation of Zastava Arms in Kragujevac. Between 1856 an 1860, the facilities in Kragujevac received many upgrades to its manufacturing system, eventually allowing the plant to produce weapons with full parts interchangeability. In 1878, one of the main priorities became the modernization of armaments. Serbian rifle „Piboduša“ Model 1870 Peabody became obsolete with their large 14,9mm caliber. After a research project and a competitive tender in 1879, a new model rifle was chosen as the replacement. The first domestic-made repeating rifle, a derivative of the Mauser Model 1871 bolt-action rifle, was designed in 1880 by Kosta Milovanović and was named Mauzer Milovanović M. 1880, known as "Mauser-Koka" or "Koka's Rifle", after its designer. The weapon was first manufactured in Germany and was called the Mauser-Milovanović M1878/80, cal. 10,15mm. In 1924 and 1925, the Ministry of the Interior signed contracts with FN Herstal, Belgium which allowed the production of M24 series bolt-action rifles chambered in 7.92×57mm Mauser. Factory for production of rifles and infantry ammunition was also built. The factory for production of infantry ammunition started to work on March 22, 1928 and the factory for production of rifles and ammunition was put to operation on October 15 (75th anniversary of first casting of cannons in Kragujevac). During 1930, the factory started the production of signal pistols 26 mm M 1929 on the basis of Czechoslovakian licence. In July 1936, the factory got a licence from the Czechoslovakian Zbrojovka Brno to produce light machineguns ZB vz. 26 7,9 mm M 1937.

Zastava Arms was heavily damaged during World War II. When Kragujevac was liberated on October 21, 1944, the weapons factory was put back into working order within months and production began shortly after, with the 9mm M 1944 B2 submachine gun developed during the same year. The next postwar production rifle was the 7.92×57mm Mauser Model 1948 on the basis of Model 24. The production of air rifles and sporting rifles on the basis of rifle M48 started in 1953. In 1954 the Zastava started the production of shotguns and small bore rifles, as well as machine gun 7,9 mm M42 ¨Sarac¨. Batch production of semi-automatic rifle PAP M59 7.62×39mm started in 1964. In the 1964, the factory started the development of automatic rifle, of Kalashnikov system, which was named M67 in 1967. On the basis of rifle M67, the factory developed automatic rifle in caliber 7.62×39mm, which was named Zastava M70 in the following year. Yugoslav People's Army included assault rifle M70 in calibre 7.62×39mm into its armament in 1970. Small arms derivatives of the M70 produced rifles chambered in Western bloc ammunition such as 7.62×51mm NATO and 5.56×45mm NATO. In 1988, the factory developed a compact design pistol in 9 mm Parabellum model M88.

In the 1980s, the plant for action of machine guns M84, M86 in 7.62×54mmR and heavy machine gun in 12.7 NSV M87 was set to operation as well. In July 1989 Zastava started the development of the double-action pistol in calibre 9mm PARA CZ 99. In 1992, the factory finished the development and testing and started batch production of 7.62 mm submachine gun M92, based on submachine gun M85. Using the Mauser mechanism, the factory developed 12.7 mm long range rifle Black Arrow M93.

During the Yugoslav Wars of 1991 to 1995, the United Nations placed economic sanctions on the import and export of weapons from Yugoslavia, production slowed as a result. In 1999 the factory was damaged by NATO bombing.

In 2005, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Remington Arms to export hunting and sporting guns to the United States, Canada and Mexico. From 2005 to 2014, Zastava Arms was in restructuring.

The Government of Serbia invested 9.7 million euros in factory's modernization in 2017, for the needs of defense industry.

Products

• Semi-automatic sporting rifles/pistols: Zastava PAP series
• Bolt-action rifles: Zastava M48
• Semi-automatic rifles: SKS#Variants
• Submachine guns: M65; M97; Master FLG
• Sniper rifles: M76; M91; M07

Pistols

Select-fire rifles

• M70
• M77
• M80
• M85
• M90
• M92
• M21

Machine guns

• M1937, Light machine gun
• M72
• M77
• M84
• M87, Heavy machine gun
• M02 Coyote

Anti-material rifles and other

• M93 Black Arrow
• M12 Black Spear
• Zastava M55

See also

• Defense industry of Serbia
• Equipment of the Serbian Armed Forces

References

1. ^ "БИЛАНС УСПЕХА (2016) - Застава Оружје". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 November 2017.
2. ^ "БИЛАНС СТАЊА (2016) - Застава Оружје". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 15 November 2017.
3. "Statistički prikaz vlasništva preduzeća - Zastava oružje". crhov.rs (in Serbian). Centralni registar depo i kliring hartija od vrednosti. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
4. "Основни подаци о привредном друштву". apr.gov.rs (in Serbian). Serbian Business Registers Agency. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
5. Collection of 19th century weapons until 1918. Archived October 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Military Museum
6. Viktor Kovačević (August 1998). "KOKA POPRAVLJA MAUZERA". Srpsko nasleđe, Istorijske sveske, broj 8 (in Serbian). NIP "GLAS".
7. "Vojne fabrike u dugovima, hale i oprema zastareli". danas.rs (in Serbian). 24 April 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
8. "Pistol EZ9 Compact/EZ40 Compact". Zastava Arms. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

External links

• Official website

• Zastava Arms
• Companies established in 1853
• Firearm manufacturers of Serbia
• Government-owned companies of Serbia
• Companies based in Kragujevac
• Defense industry of Serbia