Rivalling Serbia’s Prvi Partizan
Beside helmets, body armour and other personal protective equipment, Demirovski also produces small calibre, NATO-standard ammunition of 9 mm, 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm.
Defence industry sources familiar with the North Macedonia market say ATS is rivalling Serbia’s Prvi Partizan in terms of output.
“Serbia wants to control the ammunition manufacturing business in the Balkans and therefore sees Demirovski as a threat,” said one source previously involved in monitoring defence production in North Macedonia.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said Demirovski’s detention in Serbia should be seen in the context of Serbia seeking to maintain its dominance.
Like the 2019 case, however, the case involving the three former Krusik employees over production of 120 mm mortar rounds remains in the investigation phase, a defence source told BIRN, raising doubts as to whether it might ever result in an indictment. Demirovski was never charged. The three ex-employees have all denied wrongdoing. As yet, ATS does not produce 120 mm rounds.
US, British board members
According to Demirovski, between 40 and 50 per cent of ATS production goes to the US, where ATS has a branch registered in St Louis, Missouri, in September 2022.
“We work for NATO countries that are very important to us and we constantly set ourselves apart from the competition with the best quality,” he said in a rare interview in November 2023. “The whole world already knows about us.”
Reflecting its focus on the US, ATS has contracts with two US lobbying firms – Mercury and Valcour LLC. The first is owned by former Republican Senator David Vitter and the latter by Matt Mowers, a former adviser to Donald Trump, the US president.
Prior to a visit to Washington in April this year by a delegation of the North Macedonia government, filings under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA, show that Mercury, on behalf of ATS, lobbied for a US-North Macedonia strategic partnership, the contents of which to some extent overlap with what was later agreed upon in the official discussion and with what Macedonian officials publicly stated. Several current officials denied coordinating with Demirovski, saying he acted on his own initiative.
The chairman of the Advisory Board at ATS Group is retired US Army General James L. Jones, formerly supreme commander of NATO and US forces in Europe and national security adviser under US President Barack Obama.
According to The Washington Post, Jones is also a paid adviser of Saudi Arabia and Libya.
Retired US Army Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, who worked in counter terrorism in Iraq, also sits on the Advisory Board, as do John DeVito, a former employee of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Ammunition in New York, and John David Enright, who describes himself as having “over 30 years of experience collaborating with various branches of the US Military, DOD [Department of Defence] divisions, and agencies such as the CIA and DIA”.
