SLOBODA MUNITIONS IN THE MOUNTAINS

American Class 3 Dealer Newell Graham and his son Richard firing the Oerlikon 20mm at Sloboda’s range during a recent “Living History” course, which is sponsored at Sloboda’s range in Cacak.

Text and photos by Dan Shea

We thought it appropriate to focus and profile one of the exhibitors at Partner 2007, and Kompanija Sloboda from Cacak, Serbia seemed a good choice since we are familiar with them. Sloboda was started in 1948, and has a reputation for being able to produce almost any small arms ammunition above 14.5mm.

*Display wall in Sloboda’s impressive conference room. The General Director keeps a full inventory of products on display for the customers to peruse.*

*Sliding an M91 barrel launched rifle grenade onto the launcher end of the barrel of an M70 rifle.*

*One of Sloboda’s favorite products, while a relatively inexpensive one, is their trip flare. It provides 10,000 candlepower for 15 seconds, with a 115 dB report.*

Sloboda manufactures the basic ammunition for the 30mm BGA-30 Automatic Grenade Launcher. (Left to right): Cutaway HE anti personnel round, M93 P1 HE round, M93TP Target practice marking (white), M93PM P1 Target practice with Flash (Blue)

Oerlikon Heaven. A full bin of brand new, unprimed 20x110mm Rebated Rim Oerlikon brass, ready for loading. Sloboda is one of the few places on the planet that is still supplying ammunition for this reliable old workhorse of a legacy system.

Cutting chips. Sloboda’s machine shops are constantly churning out high quality bodies, fuze bodies and bases. Sloboda is well known for the quality of the work they do. They have added some more modern machinery, but the older, solid machines that are in place are precise for production.

SAR readers will recognize the name of the company as the hosts of the “Living History” live fire events that are held at their ranges several times a year. It would be a mistake to think this is all they do as this is a corollary to their main businesses. Sloboda has an arms production section, as well as producing some items for civilian, household use.

*US 40mm Bofors test firing on the Sloboda Range in Cacak, Serbia. Testing impact is confined to a large, sand filled target area. Note impact.*

The factory is located about 140 km from Belgrade, in the city of Cacak. Cacak (Cha-Chek) is a city of over 100,000 people and is a heavily industrialized area in the mountainous region of Serbia. There is an excellent labor pool of skilled workers, many of them second or even third generation workers at the Sloboda plant.

Sloboda also has a full line of 20x110mm Hispano ammunition. (Left to right): AP-T (Armor Piercing-Tracer), HEI (High Explosive Incendiary), TP (Target Practice-”Blue Tip”), HE-T (High Explosive-Tracer), Blank, API-T (Armor Piercing Incendiary-Tracer).

*30mm offerings for automatic cannons from 30x165mm and 30x210mm.*

We toured the facility several times before the 1999 NATO bombing when US missiles were dropped onto the facility. Much of the wreckage still remains but it was not the critical parts of the facility that were damaged. We have had several visits to the factory since then, and they are in full production.

Sloboda’s 57x348mm anti-aircraft bodies are prepared for their fuzes just prior to loading. At this point they are not in a state where detonation can easily occur. These are for the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, S60 or S68.

Sloboda is known for its engineering staff as well as the fact that they have a full testing facility and certifications that are up to any standard in the European community. They are qualified in the ISO 9001:2000 category, and the production is strictly overseen by government inspectors.

The Rangemaster gives a briefing on the proper deployment of the Serbian M80 shoulder fired rocket launcher. In this case, sling adjustment was emphasized so that a proper support could be given to it.

*Front loading the BG40 launcher with an M03 HE round.*

Sloboda has a lot to be proud of, and is looking forward to many years of service to the military and police communities.

Contact:
Foreign sales:
Kompanija Sloboda
Ratka Mitrovica bb, 32000 Cacak
Serbia
Phones: ++381 32 26 21 41
Fax: ++381 32 22 63 90
E-mail: slobcom@ptt.yu
~~http://www.sloboda.com~~

US or US Contractor sales:
Defense Munitions LLC
631 N. Stephanie St #371
Henderson, NV 89014
Tel: 702-566-9811
Fax: 702-558-1728
Email: Info@defensemunitions.com
Website: ~~www.defensemunitions.com~~

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V11N9 (June 2008)