SARAJEVO – The military industry of BiH continues to break records after exporting arms and ammunition worth a total of 146.9 million KM in the first six months of 2024, “Dnevni avaz” investigates.
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This is almost 48 percent more than in the same period last year, when the value of exports amounted to 99.8 million marks.
According to the data of the ITA BiH, the most requested are grenades, bombs, mines, rockets, and military ammunition and their parts, so the total value of the export of these products was approximately 142.5 million KM. Bosnia and Herzegovina also exported about 2.7 million KM worth of parts and accessories for military weapons, revolvers and pistols and other firearms. At the top of the list of countries to which we export are the USA, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Iraq, Serbia, Saudi Arabia…
Military expert Berko Zečević believes that the good financial results of the military industry do not mean that there were investments in existing factories, but that some of them previously had free capacities that they filled. At the same time, the war in Ukraine influenced the increase in the prices of ammunition and weapons.
“We have a fantastic chance, because what is happening in the world now will certainly last ten years. There will be an expressed need for ammunition and weapons, so technological and legal restructuring of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be necessary accordingly. military industry. We need external partners, military companies from Europe and the USA, and we need to change the relationship that 51 percent of the capital is owned by the FBiH or the RS, and 49 percent by private capital. We must have collaborators who will drastically increase the technological capabilities of our companies and receive more skilled, not qualified, people. I have been working all my life to create the conditions for BiH to have educated people, but out of a hundred defense technology engineers, only 5-6 work in the military industry, and people were hired based on relatives and similar lines“, says Zečević, and adds that one of the key obligations should be the development of as many private companies as possible for the production of components for the defense industry.
After filling the warehouses, which were emptied due to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, military political analyst Hamza Višća expects a lot of investments and the regrouping of the dedicated industry in accordance with the new needs, because experience shows that the armies need more means and anti-aircraft missiles.
Total value of exports by year
– 2023 year 241,144,400.98 KM
– 2022 year 196,023,892.06 KM
– 2021 year 192,875,889.72 KM
– 2020 year 141,005,039.13 KM
– 2019 year 195,957,278.29 KM
Source: www.capital.ba
