Rocket sales drop during pandemic

NEWS 02.09.202212:57
REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

The Serbian military industry reported a drop in sales of rockets, the Balkan Security Network said on Friday citing a Trade Ministry report.

According to the report, sales in 2020 and 2021 were lower than in the pre-pandemic 2018-19. “Serbia exported more than 22,000 rockets in 2018 and a record was set in 2019 when more than 34,000 were exported. In 2020, that number dropped to 15,000 and in 2021 to 6,239. Most of those exports were of GRAD 122 mm and 107 mm missiles for older Chinese-made rocket launchers,” the report said, adding that most of those exports were to the UAE, US and Turkey.

The report submitted to the Arms Trade Treaty organization shows a rise in sales from 2016 to 2019. The Ministry report said that sales resumed after a break of several years in 2016 when Pakistan bought 15 GRAD 2000 rockets for testing and continued in 2017 when Saudi Arabi bought 4,000 GRAD rockets and Iraq bought 1,906.