Manufacturer catalog

Zastava Arms

Zastava Arms is a Serbian firearms and artillery manufacturer in Kragujevac. The catalog uses this builder profile for the company's linked small-arms and gun-system entries, including its rifles, heavy machine gun, and the MT-LB with Zastava M55 conversion.

4 weapons

Zastava Arms is the export-facing English name for Zastava oružje AD, the Kragujevac-based Serbian arms maker whose official site describes it as the oldest weapons factory in the Balkans. The company presents its current line around defense and hunting-and-sporting products, with a public address at Kosovska 4 in Kragujevac.

For this catalog, the builder catalog page gathers the four connected Zastava entries and keeps the company context separate from conflict-specific use recorded on individual weapon pages. That gives the catalog a clean manufacturer home for the M76, M21, M02 Coyote, and MT-LB with Zastava M55 conversion entries.

Military small armsHeavy machine gunsArtillery and automatic cannonHunting and sporting firearms

Notable Systems

M76 sniper rifle

Semi-automatic designated marksman/sniper rifle

The catalog's Zastava M76 entry anchors the company's historic marksman-rifle line.

M21 assault rifle

5.56x45 mm NATO assault rifle

The catalog's Zastava M21 entry represents the company's modern 5.56 mm service-rifle family.

M02 Coyote heavy machine gun

The catalog's Zastava M02 Coyote entry captures the company's tripod-mounted 12.7 mm heavy machine-gun line.

M55 anti-aircraft gun family

Tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft gun conversion

The catalog's MT-LB with Zastava M55 entry connects the company to its Cold War-era 20 mm anti-aircraft gun family.

Manufacturer History

1851
Gun Foundry moved to Kragujevac
Zastava Arms USA says the Gun Foundry was moved from Belgrade to Kragujevac in 1851, establishing the company line that later became Zastava Arms.
Sources: Zastava Arms USA History
1853
First cannon barrels cast
The same company history says the first cannon barrels were cast in 1853, which it treats as the start of its firearms-making tradition.
Sources: Zastava Arms USA History
1889
Paris World Fair medals
The official English-language history page says the Gun Foundry won several medals at the 1889 Paris World Fair.
Sources: Zastava Arms USA History

Website links

Official website Contact History Museum Old Gun Foundry

The company’s official Serbian site uses Zastava oružje AD as the legal name, while the English-language history page is hosted by the U.S. affiliate and is used here only for dated historical context.

Manufacturer Sources

Zastava Arms HomePublisher: Zastava Arms | Note: Supports the company's current identity, its defense and hunting-and-sporting program framing, and the public claim that it is the oldest weapons factory in the Balkans. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
Zastava Arms ContactPublisher: Zastava Arms | Note: Supports the legal name Zastava oružje AD, the Kragujevac headquarters address, and the export-import office location. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
Zastava Arms USA HistoryPublisher: Zastava Arms USA | Note: Supports the 1851 move to Kragujevac, the 1853 first cannon-barrel casting, the 1889 Paris medals, and the long-running firearms history used in the profile. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
Zastava Arms text-only logoPublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports the reusable public-domain logo image; the Commons file page identifies the mark as a text-only logo sourced from Zastava Arms' own home page. | Accessed: 2026-06-21

Produced weapons

MT-LB with Zastava M55 anti-aircraft gun, Tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft gun conversion, Air Defense

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ConflictMT-LB with Zastava M55 anti-aircraft gunTracked self-propelled anti-aircraft gun conversionBuilt in: Soviet Union / SerbiaThe MT-LB with Zastava M55 anti-aircraft gun was an Armenian/Artsakh field conversion that mounted Yugoslav/Serbian 20 mm triple M55A3 or M55A4 guns on the rear deck of the Soviet MT-LB tracked carrier. In the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, open-source loss records and regional reporting documented these vehicles as short-range air-defense and direct-fire support systems that were destroyed, damaged, or captured by Azerbaijani forces.

Zastava M21 assault rifle, 5.56x45 mm NATO assault rifle, Infantry Weapons

2009 Boko Haram Insurgency, 2016 Anglophone CrisisZastava M21 assault rifle5.56x45 mm NATO assault rifleBuilt in: SerbiaThe Zastava M21 is a Serbian 5.56x45 mm NATO assault rifle derived from the Kalashnikov operating system and produced by Zastava Arms. In this catalog, its strongest conflict evidence is Cameroon-linked: Boko Haram and ISWAP material showed M21s in Lake Chad basin insurgent hands, while Amnesty International documented M21s with armed separatist groups during the 2016 Anglophone Crisis.

Zastava M02 Coyote, 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, Infantry Weapons

2009 Boko Haram Insurgency, 2011 Syrian Civil War +2 moreZastava M02 Coyote12.7 mm heavy machine gunBuilt in: SerbiaThe Zastava M02 Coyote is a Serbian 12.7 mm heavy machine gun that adapts Zastava's licensed M87/NSV-pattern gun to a cradle and tripod for infantry fire support. Official Zastava material lists both 12.7x108 mm and 12.7x99 mm offerings, while conflict documentation places M02 Coyotes with Syrian opposition fighters, armed groups in the Sahel, seizure reporting linked to Boko Haram, and UAE-allied militias in Yemen.

M76 sniper rifle, Semi-automatic designated marksman/sniper rifle, Infantry Weapons

2009 Boko Haram InsurgencyM76 sniper rifleSemi-automatic designated marksman/sniper rifleBuilt in: Yugoslavia / SerbiaThe M76 is a Zastava-built Yugoslav semi-automatic marksman rifle originally chambered for 7.92x57 mm Mauser and built around an enlarged Kalashnikov-pattern action. Its catalog significance is twofold: it was a Yugoslav People's Army precision rifle with distinctive 8 mm ammunition and optic arrangements, and it later appears in Lake Chad Basin reporting as a Serbian-origin sniper rifle associated with Boko Haram factions.