Manufacturer catalog

Arsenal JSCo

Arsenal JSCo is a Bulgarian defense manufacturer based in Kazanlak that builds small arms, artillery systems, ammunition, powders, charges, pyrotechnics, and related industrial products. Its public materials trace the enterprise to 1878, describe a Kazanlak industrial base operating since 1924, and identify licensed military-equipment trade alongside design, manufacturing, engineering, modernization, and export activity.

8 weapons

Arsenal JSCo is a long-running Bulgarian weapons manufacturer whose official history traces the enterprise to 1878 and its relocation to Kazanlak in 1924. The company’s public materials describe it as a modern industrial plant focused on small arms, artillery systems, ammunition, powders, pyrotechnic products, machine-building, and related production.

The 2019 Bulgarian Defence Industry catalogue describes Arsenal JSCo as a company with design, manufacturing, engineering, trade, modernization, research-and-development, and technology-transfer activity across military and civilian products. The same catalogue lists a Bulgarian government military-equipment trade license and says Arsenal exported more than 90 percent of its production at that time.

Arsenal production represented in the collection is concentrated in Bulgarian Kalashnikov-pattern rifles and shoulder-fired or recoilless-system ammunition, including the AR-M9 / AR-M9F rifle family, the AKKS rifle, the ATGL-L launcher line, the SPG-9, and several 40 mm or 40/73 mm RPG-compatible rounds.

Small armsAmmunitionRecoilless and RPG munitionsArtillery systemsPowders, charges, and pyrotechnicsMachine-building

Notable Systems

Arsenal AR-M9 / AR-M9F, 5.56 x 45 mm Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifle, Infantry Weapons

AR-M9 / AR-M9F

5.56 x 45 mm Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifle

Kalashnikov-pattern export rifle family in the catalog’s Arsenal small-arms line; Arsenal’s public product listings include 5.56x45 mm and 7.62x39 mm Arsenal assault rifles.

Sources: Assault rifles category, Bulgarian Defence Industry catalogue
ATGL-L, 40 mm reusable anti-tank grenade launcher family, Infantry Weapons

ATGL-L

40 mm reusable anti-tank grenade launcher family

Light anti-tank recoilless launcher family represented in the catalog and paired in Arsenal product listings with RPG-7V-compatible 40 mm ammunition.

Sources: ATGL-L rounds category, Bulgarian Defence Industry catalogue
OGi-7MA RPG round, 40 mm high-explosive fragmentation RPG round, Munitions

OGi-7MA RPG round

40 mm high-explosive fragmentation RPG round

High-explosive fragmentation round in Arsenal’s ATGL-L / RPG-7-compatible ammunition family.

Sources: ATGL-L rounds category
RHEAT-7MA2 RPG round, 40/73 mm HEAT round for RPG-7V-pattern launchers, Munitions

RHEAT-7MA2 RPG round

40/73 mm HEAT round for RPG-7V-pattern launchers

Anti-tank round in Arsenal’s RPG-compatible recoilless ammunition line.

Sources: ATGL-L rounds category
RTB-7MA RPG round, 40 mm thermobaric RPG round for RPG-7-family launchers, Munitions

RTB-7MA RPG round

40 mm thermobaric RPG round for RPG-7-family launchers

Thermobaric round in Arsenal’s RPG-compatible recoilless ammunition line.

Sources: ATGL-L rounds category

Manufacturer History

  1. Enterprise founded

    Arsenal’s official history traces the enterprise to 1878, when the company’s predecessor began operations in Bulgaria.

    Sources: Company history

  2. Moved to Kazanlak

    The company’s official history says the factory was transferred to Kazanlak in 1924 for strategic reasons and renamed State Military Factory / State Military Works in company materials.

    Sources: Company history

  3. Joint-stock company transformation

    Arsenal’s official history says the company was transformed into a sole-owner joint-stock company on 20 December 1991 after the late-1980s state-owned phase.

    Sources: Company history, Transparency International DCI assessment

  4. Military-equipment trade license listed

    The 2019 Bulgarian Defence Industry catalogue listed Arsenal JSCo as officially licensed by Bulgaria's government for military-equipment trade under License No. 11.00-774-1 / 27 January 2015.

    Sources: Bulgarian Defence Industry catalogue

Website links
Official websiteCompany profileCompany historyContactsBulgarian Defence Industry catalogueTransparency International DCI assessment

English-language Arsenal materials use several forms of the name, including Arsenal JSCo, Arsenal AD, and Arsenal 2000 JSCo; the canonical name follows the current English site name. Arsenal 2000 JSCo appears in industry material as a related trade representative, but it is not added as a subsidiary because the public sources reviewed here do not establish that corporate relationship for Arsenal JSCo. No reusable rights-clear image was verified, so the image gallery remains empty.

Manufacturer Sources

  • Official websitePublisher: Arsenal JSCo | Note: Supports the public company name, Bulgarian manufacturer description, address, and broad production focus on weapons and ammunition. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Company profilePublisher: Arsenal JSCo | Note: Supports the company address, general-director context, and official corporate profile used for the headquarters and summary fields. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Company historyPublisher: Arsenal JSCo | Note: Supports the 1878 founding date, the 1924 relocation to Kazanlak, and the 1989/1991 corporate-history milestones. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Assault rifles categoryPublisher: Arsenal JSCo | Note: Supports Arsenal’s small-arms specialization and the AR-M9 / AR-M9F family used in the catalog’s builder linkage. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • ATGL-L rounds categoryPublisher: Arsenal JSCo | Note: Supports Arsenal’s RPG- and recoilless-round product family, including OGi-7MA, RHEAT-7MA2, and RTB-7MA. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Bulgarian Defence Industry cataloguePublisher: Bulgarian Defence Industry Association | Note: Supports Arsenal JSCo's 1878 founding context, product areas, government military-equipment trade license, Kazanlak contact address, and export-oriented production statement. | Accessed: 2026-07-04
  • Transparency International DCI assessmentPublisher: Transparency International Defence & Security | Note: Supports the corporate-history cross-check for the 1989 state-owned registration and 1991 joint-stock transformation, and notes the absence of public beneficial-ownership disclosure in the reviewed materials. | Accessed: 2026-07-04

Produced weapons

Category

Infantry Weapons

Portable weapons used by soldiers and small units.

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Arsenal AR-M9 / AR-M9F, 5.56 x 45 mm Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifle, Infantry Weapons2014 Yemen Civil WarArsenal AR-M9 / AR-M9F5.56 x 45 mm Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifleBuilt in: BulgariaThe Arsenal AR-M9 and folding-stock AR-M9F are Bulgarian 5.56 x 45 mm Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifles built by Arsenal JSCo for export and military users. Open-source arms researchers documented fixed-stock AR-M9 rifles with UAE-trained pro-government Yemeni resistance fighters at Al-Anad Air Base and an AR-M9F with a Sudanese coalition soldier in Yemen, placing the family inside Gulf-backed coalition equipment flows during the 2014 Yemen Civil War.
SPG-9, 73 mm tripod-mounted recoilless gun, Infantry Weapons2014 Russia-Ukraine War, 2011 Syrian Civil War +3 moreSPG-973 mm tripod-mounted recoilless gunBuilt in: Soviet Union / Bulgaria / RomaniaThe SPG-9 is a Soviet 73 mm tripod-mounted recoilless gun, known in some references as Kopye, that fires rocket-assisted HEAT and HE-fragmentation projectiles from a crew-served launcher. Accepted into Soviet service in 1962 and exported widely, it was designed as an anti-armor weapon but still appears in conflicts as a flexible direct- and indirect-fire support system.

Category

Munitions

Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.

4/4
OGi-7MA RPG round, 40 mm high-explosive fragmentation RPG round, Munitions2009 Boko Haram Insurgency, 2014 War Against the Islamic State +1 moreOGi-7MA RPG round40 mm high-explosive fragmentation RPG roundBuilt in: BulgariaThe OGi-7MA is a Bulgarian 40 mm high-explosive fragmentation round for RPG-7V-family launchers and Arsenal's ATGL-L recoilless guns. Arsenal describes it as an improved, pre-fragmented anti-personnel round with more than 1,250 fragments and AF76 or AF72 point-detonating fuzes, while conflict reporting places it with Boko Haram factions in the Lake Chad basin, Islamic State forces in north-east Syria, and Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut.
RTB-7MA RPG round, 40 mm thermobaric RPG round for RPG-7-family launchers, Munitions2009 Boko Haram Insurgency, 2014 Russia-Ukraine WarRTB-7MA RPG round40 mm thermobaric RPG round for RPG-7-family launchersBuilt in: BulgariaThe RTB-7MA is a Bulgarian 40/106 mm thermobaric round for RPG-7-family launchers, built around a GTB-7MA warhead, CP-73 booster, SM-71 sustainer motor, and AF-76 point-detonating fuze. Product data frames it as an anti-personnel and anti-materiel round for shelters, fortifications, buildings, light armored vehicles, and automobiles, while open-source reporting places it with Boko Haram- and ISWAP-linked materiel in Nigeria and Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut.