Dr. Anton Stefovq, one of the important manufacturers in the specific sector of armored cars, spoke to bTV about the industry, the capabilities of Europe and the defense of Bulgaria.
Born in Blagoevgrad, he graduated in “Mechanical Engineering“ at the current Technical University in Sofia. After 1989, Anton Stefov emigrated to Canada, where he founded a company for armored cars.
His business took off sharply after the September 11, 2001 attack in New York and the subsequent US military actions in the Middle East. To date, Stefov has factories in the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
His company is a supplier of armored vehicles to state and international organizations such as the UN, NATO, the German armed forces, “Space X“ and many others around the world. In October last year, his company opened a factory for armored vehicles in Burgas.
“Armament, everyone knows the saying, the statement that if you want peace, you must prepare for war. There is no peace without preparation. So this peaceful coexistence, joy, flowers, grass, groves, there is no such thing. Maybe in paradise there is, but we, unfortunately, do not live in paradise“, says Dr. Anton Stefov.
As early as the period 1980-1990 The United States participated in over 34% of all international arms deals, the Soviet Union - in over 29%. They are followed by France, Great Britain, West Germany and Italy. And now, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, global arms revenues in 2023 will exceed 600 billion dollars.
„As you know, some of the most prosperous companies, enterprises in Bulgaria at the moment are military enterprises. They bring huge income to our country. Building a strong military industry is not an expense, as many people think. On the contrary, cases are income. In addition, a strong army also helps the industry. First, it provides work, orders. In an international perspective, it helps the country to protect its interests, both economically and militarily. Let's look at China at the moment. Who is preparing to attack China? Nobody. Why are they arming themselves? Of course, they may know what for. They arm themselves to protect their economic interests“, says Dr. Stefov.
The entrepreneur assesses the market for Bulgarian military production as follows:
“This is in the production of military equipment, at the factories in Sopot and so on. We all know them. Optics. These are well-established markets“.
Apart from the war in Ukraine, we did not have any specific deals directly for Ukraine, but we did have specific deals with the Czech Republic, with Poland, which respectively went to Ukraine.
“It always happens like this. It's just that when one country wants to remain in the shadows, it goes through another. After all, you have to have a blessing from the so-called geopolitical powers. These things don't happen like that. Someone decided to sell to the Czech Republic or Poland and from there the equipment or machines would enter Ukraine. These things don't happen while talking at the table, over salad and brandy.
But we lost the markets for military equipment. We're talking about APCs, BRDs, MTLBs, even tanks. This thing needs to be restored. Because the markets are not only in Europe. The markets are in Asia. I've sold very little in Europe. In percentage terms, this is very small compared to the production and business I've done in Asia, Africa, even in Latin America. So far, we've developed over 160 types of machines," says the entrepreneur.
You touched on relations with Bulgaria, but do you have any specific orders?
„We fulfilled one order for the Bulgarian army. It was for 160 vehicles, but quite a while ago, maybe 3-4 or more years ago. Mr. Karakachanov was the minister at the time and we haven't received anything since then. Unfortunately, we did not receive the last order that we and all Bulgarian companies hoped to participate in for the order for the receipt and production of 8-by-8 machines for the infantry - we did not receive such an order. Then it was decided to purchase them from abroad. What I would say as a negative phenomenon at the moment is that we currently do not have an import permit for three months. Not only us, but also other companies in the military industry.
Since we cannot export the production without the relevant permits, which are obtained in the appropriate order. Since there are very big problems with the formation of a government, etc., this also affects us, since we cannot obtain our permits. Nothing can come in or go out. Three months - this is a lot. Can you imagine the people who work in the company - 50-100 people, military companies work with 500 or even more, and three months of no activity. "Just expenses," says Dr. Anton Stefov.
The businessman believes that the perceived need for security in the world requires an increase in orders and production in the defense industry, even in a small country like ours. And the future, according to him, lies in robotization - remotely controlled combat vehicles, similar to drones, which have become particularly popular during the war in Ukraine.