WARSAW, Poland \u2014 The Bulgarian government is planning to privatize two state-owned defense companies in the next few years, according to a draft midterm budget released by the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance and obtained by local news agency Novinite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cabinet aims to put up two manufacturers for sale: the country’s leading arms maker VMZ Sopot, which is to be privatized in 2018, and arms exporter Kintex, which is to be put up for sale in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Finance said that the funds obtained from the sale are to be used by the government to acquire new multirole fighter jets for the Bulgarian Air Force. The new aircraft are to replace Soviet-designed Mikoyan MiG-21 jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past few years, VMZ Sopot has been struggling to stay afloat\u00a0financially. Last year, the company witnessed a string of accidents which included two blasts at a warehouse owned by VMZ Sopot in March and April 2015, and an explosion caused by a grenade launcher that killed a US Defense Department contractor and injured four in June 2015. The accidents triggered the resignation of the company’s chief executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
In 2012 and 2013, the Bulgarian government attempted to sell a 100 percent stake in VMZ Sopot, but deals were never completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VMZ Sopot’s product range comprises artillery ammunition, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, as well as grenades and other types of munitions, according to figures released by the firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Set up in 1966, Kintex specializes in exporting military equipment, weapons and machinery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Budget documents indicate the Bulgarian government will put VMZ Sopot and Kintex up for sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[33,12,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3389],"class_list":["post-38863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-industry","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2YIEW3VF2FH6NGONM577WY6XFI","arc_canonical_url":"\/industry\/2016\/04\/12\/bulgarian-government-to-privatize-defense-companies\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n