Small Arms Survey, Occasional Paper, No. 13. Geneva, Oct 2004.

The paper examines the trajectory of small arms and light weapons production in six countries of the former Eastern bloc : Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Serbia -Montenegro. It presents the sector’s situation during the Cold War period, its dramatic collapse following the régime changes and the various goals and restructuring strategies the region’s countries implemented to save and revamp their arms production in a radically changed internal and international context.

The comparative analysis of the different country and company trajectories highlights the factors contibuting to successful or failed adjustment strategies.