Arms for Bulgaria...

The dubious but rapid growth of the controversial firm

Kintex is Bulgaria’s oldest and most important arms exporting firm, involved in small arms and light weapons. Founded
in 1966 by the secret police, the state-owned Kintex has often been accused of several illegal weapons transactions and is officially responsible for managing arms sales abroad.

Jane’s Infantry Weapons (1999-2000) ranks Bulgaria as being a medium producer of small arms and light weapons, including its famous versions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. It lists Kintex as the manufacturer of “a large range of Kalashnikov’s assault rifles,” and lists 16, including the AKT-47 and AK-47. Kintex also has its own range of artillery-launched jammers, such as the Lilia series; other products include the 20 to 100 MHz Starshel 122 barrage jammer for 122 mm guns.

However, Kintex has a dubious history of arms trade. Bulgaria, A Country Study, a study done by William R Lehman Jr, shows that during the early 1960s, Kintex was involved in supplying arms to socialist-oriented forces in Algeria, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, apart from leftist terrorist groups in Italy, Turkey and the Middle East. Lehman also alleged that Kintex had been willing to accept narcotics from Turkish terrorists and other groups as payment for arms. The Bulgarian government denied the charges. Nonetheless, US intelligence sources have also suspected Kintex of being a front for the Bulgarian State Security to assist in narcotics trafficking and flow of illicit arms and ammunition throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Further, during the Iran-Iraq war, Kintex sold arms to both countries. As per a Human Rights Watch report, Kintex also supplied arms to warring groups in Rwanda despite an international arms embargo. In 1993, Forbes magazine wrote that Kintex had, in 1992, concluded $100 million in arms deals with Iraq, Libya, and Yugoslavia.

With the political change in Bulgaria in 1990, Kintex was removed from the category of state secrets; it revealed that it maintained contacts with fifty countries, dealing mostly in small arms, ammunitions and tanks. However, Kintex managed to circumvent arms trade controls instituted from 1991 to 1992 and brokered deals with countries in violation of UN imposed arms embargoes.

In 1998, the Bulgarian government started a process of privatisation of state-owned arms manufacturers, Kintex being one of them. But in 1999, Kintex sold arms worth $40 million to India and Algeria. It was listed as a firm to be privatised in 2001. AK

...Ammunition for Russia

Izhmash is training its guns at MHA after losing out

Based in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurt Republic in the Russian Federation, Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) Izhmash bears the honour, or dishonour, of being the largest manufacturer of firearms in Russia today. It brings out an array of arms that range from four series of knives to artillery-guided weapon complexes and aircraft automatic guns. OJSC Izhmash also has subsidiary firms that produce cars and motorbikes.

However, their rifles are still their mainstay. Izhmash produces a range of hunting and military rifles that have become ‘bestsellers’ around the globe. In the hunting category, the Saiga self-loading hunting carbine has become a hot favourite even with Americans. Still, what the company is best remembered for is the Kalashnikov series of rifles. Izhmash’s Chief Designer Lt Gen Mikhail Timofeevitch Kalashnikov produced the first and best-known Kalashnikov, AK-47, in the year 1947. Later the technology was passed on to other communist nations by USSR for monetary and political gains. But now, Izhmash is increasingly trying to secure patents on their products in several countries.

After the initial runs, AK-47 was further developed to produce AKM and AKMS, where the letter M stood for ‘modernised’ series. But now, even these have been put up for sale. The most popular and advanced versions include AK 101, AK 102, AK 103, AK 104 and AK 105. AK-47 is still being widely used in conflict regions, including Kashmir, despite being produced 56 years ago.

Today, of course, AK assault rifles have become the weapon of choice for many national armies (for instance, Czech Republic, Slovak, Poland, Romania, Cuba) and terrorist organisations across the world.

Interestingly, they even produce a non-lethal, dummy version of an assault rifle for domestic application, which can be bought without a license. It is mainly used as a collector’s item and training aid.

Izhmash’s history stretches back to the nineteenth century. The company celebrated its 195th birthday in 2002 in Izhevsk city. Founded by the order of Russian Tsar Alexander I in 1807, Izhmash played a major part for the Russian military in World War II. About 11.3 million rifles and carbines were manufactured for the seven-year period of the war.

The company singularly outscored all the German firearm plants put together, which produced about 10.3 million rifles and carbines. At the same time, they also kept rolling out anti-tank weapons, aircraft automatic guns, pistols and revolvers. It is said they were arming one infantry and one airborne division each day. AK