Krušik Holding Corporation () is a Serbian state-owned company for the production of defense and civil related equipment, with the headquarters in

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 56,145 while the city admini ...

, Serbia. The company was founded in 1939 in what was then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, for the needs of then Yugoslavia defense industry and army. Today the company represents the Government and

military–industrial complex The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the Arms industry, defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving fac ...

of Serbia in the sphere of production of defense and civil equipment. The company works together with the

Serbian Armed Forces The Serbian Armed Forces () is the military of Serbia. The President of the Republic acts as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while administration and defence policy is carried out by the Government through the Ministry of Defence. The h ...

Military Technical Institute Military Technical Institute (; abbr. ) is a Serbian weapons and aircraft design institute, headquartered in Belgrade, and governed by the Ministry of Defence (Serbia), Serbian Ministry of Defence. It is a top-level military scientific research ...

, Yugoimport SDPR and many other private companies in Serbia and around the world to produce new weapons and systems. The company also provides weapons design, joint participation in sales and manufacturing technology transfer.

History

In 1939 a company named "Vistad" in Valjevo was founded by engineer Nikola Stanković. It produced small caliber (12 kg) aircraft bomb, hand offensive grenades, infantry rifle ammunition. During WWII, farm equipment was produced. After WWII factory was nationalized and renamed to Military-Technical Institute of Valjevo. In 1948 the company was registered under the name of “Krušik”. In 1999, the company's facilities were heavily destroyed during the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Serbia and Montenegro, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombing ...

. As of 2009, Krušik held a large contract to arm the

Iraqi army The Iraqi Ground Forces (Arabic: القوات البرية العراقية), also referred to as the Iraqi Army (Arabic: الجيش العراقي), is the ground force component of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It was formerly known as the Royal Iraq ...

. After two decades of working in limited capacity, in 2010s the company has begun operating positively, having annual revenues of nearly 100 million euros and cooperating with more than 70 countries worldwide. As of 2019, it has around 3,200 employees and is one of the main companies of defense industry of Serbia. In February 2019, the company celebrated its 80-year anniversary.

Controversies

In September 2019, it became public that weapons manufactured by Krušik sold to US Federal contractor

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...

ended up in the hands of

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

fighters in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. This revelation led to the arrest of whistleblower Aleksandar Obradović, an IT worker at Krušik, on suspicion of revealing company secrets. The news of Obradović's arrest had not been made public until one month later, when he was placed under house arrest. On 21 November 2019, the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

alerted that the whistleblower Aleksandar Obradović is under house arrest. On November 21, 2019, it was reported that pro-Russian separatists had found an unexploded Serbian mortar bomb in eastern Ukraine. The shells had been traded by Serbian, Cypriot, and Polish companies, and were not authorized by Serbia for export to Ukraine. On 13 March 2022, the Ukrainian defense ministry posted a YouTube video which shows Ukrainian soldiers firing 60mm mortar shells ( M73) produced by Krušik in 2018. On March 3, 2023, Serbia denied allegations of providing Ukraine with arms, following media reports by the Russian online newspaper Mash that they delivered 3,500 Grad G-2000 rockets manufactured by Krušik via Turkey and then Slovakia. On August 4, 2023, an informational videos by

friendlyjordies Jordan Shanks-Markovina (born 18 August 1989), also known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian cultural and politica ...

that detailed the bombing of Papuan villages by the Indonesian government mentioned that the bombs that were being dropped were made by Krušik. More specifically, these were 81mm M72 high-explosive mortar rounds with an improvised fuse with a larger surface area.

Subsidiaries

* RJ-6 "Fabrika akumulatora" - Battery factory founded in 1957. most notably product is battery for MiG-29 airplane and other uses. * "Krušik-IRC - Istraživačko razvojni centar" founded in 2007 for purpose of development and research in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

and communications technologies.

Products

Bumbar The Bumbar (from ) is a Serbian short-range portable anti-tank missile system. Description The Bumbar is a wire-guided, man-portable, short-ranged missile system for use against ground targets. The missile has a soft launch capability - the main ...

, anti-tank missile system *

9M14 Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...

, anti-tank missile system (license) *

9K32 Strela-2 The 9K32 Strela-2 (; NATO reporting name SA-7 Grail) is a light-weight, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile or MANPADS system. It is designed to target aircraft at low altitudes with passive infrared homing, infrared-homing guidance and dest ...

, surface-to-air missile system (MANPAD) * Unguided rockets for multiple rocket launchers (

M-77 Oganj The M-77 Oganj (from ) is a 128mm self-propelled multiple rocket launcher developed in the former Yugoslavia. Its NATO designation is YMRL-32. Development Development of the system began in 1968. Professor Obrad Vučurović, mechanical engineer ...

M-63 Plamen M-63 Plamen (from ) is a 128mm multiple rocket launcher developed in 1963 in Yugoslavia for use in the Yugoslav People's Army. Development Serbian Prof. Obrad Vučurović, mechanical engineer at the Military Technical Institute was project mana ...

M-87 Orkan The M-87 Orkan (from ) is a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav fully automated Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled multiple rocket launcher. The generic M-87 project was configured with 12 launch tubes mounted on a Fabrika au ...

LRSVM Morava The LRSVM Morava (, named for Morava, a river in Serbia) is a modular, multi-calibre, multi-pod self-propelled multiple rocket launcher designed and developed by the Serbian Military Technical Institute. The system is designed to offer subsyste ...

) * Mortar shells for 60mm 81/82mm and 120mm mortars * Air bombs * Artillery shells, fuses and gun primers * Hand grenades * Anti tank mines * Anti hail rockets

Incidents

On 13 December 2013, three employees were hurt during testing of the engine and initial filling of the anti-bumper projectile. On 6 November 2014, one employee died of injuries he got after the incident on production line. On 15 May 2015, seven employees were hurt when capsule of hand grenade exploded on the production line. On 30 May 2025, seven emplyees were hurt in capsule department of the factory.

References