Arsenal AD

Small arms, artillery and Soviet-calibre ammunition from Bulgaria's oldest weapons manufacturer.

Arsenal traces its origins to the Ruse Artillery Arsenal of 1878 and has operated in Kazanlak since 1924, making it Bulgaria's oldest weapons manufacturer. Privatised after 1989, the joint-stock company produces Kalashnikov-pattern rifles, mortars, grenade launchers, air defence guns and a full range of Soviet-calibre ammunition and explosives. With roughly 10,500 employees reported in 2022, it is one of the largest defence employers in south-eastern Europe, and its recent output has flowed mostly to Ukraine, with Bulgaria estimated to have supplied a third of Kyiv's early-war ammunition.