30.12.2017.
Teleoptik-Žiroskopi Back on the Feet Owing to an Investment of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin visited today an economic agent “Teleoptik-Žiroksopi” where he was familiarised with the production programme and dealings of the factory in 2017, and with the plans for the following year.
The management of that company of Serbian defence industry informed the minister of defence about current investment projects and degree of realisation of investments approved by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
Accompanied by Assistant Minister for Material Resources Nenad Miloradović and the company Director Milan Nastić, Minister Vulin visited a part of production capacities and expressed his satisfaction with the modernisation of the company which is to execute a contract, in the upcoming period, whose value exceeds 10 million US dollars.- Teleoptik-Žiroksopi is a company that was about to be closed down long time ago. They were about to be ruined, to be a victim of a plundering privatisation or something similar, much like the majority of Serbian economy. Owing to the fact that then President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić recognised Teleoptik-Žiroksopi and Serbian defence industry as an excellent chance for development of our country, this company continued existing and, as you see, they work successfully – Minister Vulin said and reminded that the Government of the Republic of Serbia had invested 6.9 million euros in that company.
According to his words, that money was used for the purchase of machines and renovation of the hall and it is expected that the production will commence in April.
- These are the state-of-the-art machines in their class, which is the top class in the world and Teleoptik-Žiroksopi are part of the most demanding world market, in one of the most serious and the most sophisticated branches of defence industry worldwide, meaning that they work with optoelectronic devices, and they managed to conquer the competition and no later than the next year they will execute a contract in the value of over 10 million US dollars that will enable the functioning of this company throughout the entire year, which is why it is necessary to hire new engineers and personnel.
- Everything that is produced, and made here, every technology mastered for a foreign buyer is a technology and knowledge which we have mastered that will be used for some future systems needed by our armed forces. In the years to come, it is our plan to introduce more than 95 different and new types of weapons in our armed forces and the majority of that is a product of our knowledge and our intelligence, and it is precisely why the companies such as Teleoptik-Žiroksopi are of huge significance because they enable, through foreign contracts, buying technology that we will require, and that something that foreigners finance becomes something that will be a part of everyday life of our armed forces – Minister Vulin said and added that our own defence industry was necessary for us to be independent and to arm our armed forces with far less money concurrently mastering technology that would be later used for civilian purpose as well.
The minister of defence stressed that every developed armed forces needed what Teleoptik-Žiroksopi produced.- They all want optoelectronic systems, self-guided heads, new generation of weapons with high precision; they require sophistication and that is why this company can compete at the world market. Wherever there is arms market, the politics is also there. We are not the most powerful country in the world, so when our company succeeds in concluding such a contract, that means that it is the best.
Assistant Minister for Material Resources Nenad Miloradović reminded of 95 years long tradition of Teleoptik-Žiroksop and added that even then the factory had been recognised for the most complex and the most sophisticated technologies.
- It produced aircraft instruments back at the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and it was one of the pillars of then aviation industry. Later, after the Second World War, the latest technologies were brought here relating to missile guidance and control systems, primarily in the missile programme and the most complex subsystems for control of domes, fire control tank systems.
- As it is well known, the Ministry of Defence has an intensive programme for development of new weapon systems and modernisation of the existing ones, and we believe that this factory with its potential, due to its experience, and especially with the new equipment, with just a segment being presented to us today, will continue being a leading exponent of new technologies, first of all of optoelectronic systems and control systems and it will produce self-guided heads, control blocks for various missile systems and it will also produce assault-navigation and optoelectronic systems for our modernised planes.
The Director of Teleoptik-Žiroksopi Milan Nastić, speaking about the new equipment procured “owing to the confidence of the Ministry of Defence and investment of the Government of the Republic of Serbia”, pointed out that those were primarily numerical machines that would with multiply enhanced efficiency satisfy all existing demands.
- These are the activities intended for our armed forces, national and foreign partners. Our company slowly comes back on its feet, when we were the best in the field of missile guidance, licenced self-guided heads, and now we produce different optoelectronic devices for foreign marked and we wish to be acknowledged for that in Europe.The Director said that Teleoptik-Žiroksopi had signed contracts for the following year as well, which had not happened in previous two and half decades.
- I have to thank the Ministry of Defence for recognising and recommending us to the Government of the Republic of Serbia which invested in our factory and I am certain that, in the future, we will justify that confidence through the business to come. They promise that the company will hire younger personnel which will significantly enhance the economic power of the employees – Nastić said and announced the arrival of a significant number of foreign clients for the purpose of holding negotiations in January and February of the following year.
