 | |
 Exterior of the FM offices in 2015 | |
| Company type | State-owned company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arms Metallurgy |
| Predecessor | Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares |
| Founded | 1941; 83 years ago (1941) |
| Founder | Government of Argentina |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Cdor. Hugo Pascarelli (President) |
| Products | UAVs, freight wagons, small arms, fertiliser, artillery, SAMs |
| Owner | Government of Argentina |
| Parent | Ministry of Defence |
| Website | fm.gob.ar |
Fabricaciones Militares Sociedad del Estado (Spanish for Military Industries State Corporation), is a state-owned Argentine arms manufacturer based in Buenos Aires. The company was a government agency under the name Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares ("Directorate General of Military Industries").
Founded in 1941, over the years the company has diversified into different areas such as mining, petroleum, rolling stock and petrochemicals. The company is under the direction of the Argentine Ministry of Defence.
History
The company was created in 1941, under Argentine law 12.709, in order to expand the Argentine defense industry to compensate for the shortfall of imports that came about during the Second World War. In its early years, it produced primarily small arms and munitions whilst aiding in the development of other key industries in the country. The company expanded quickly and would eventually have 14 factories around the country. However, starting in the 1980s, many of these plants were sold to private firms.
The company has a long history of producing rolling stock for the Argentine railways. It has produced trams, urban commuter rail trains, and trains for the Buenos Aires Underground.
In more recent years, the company has begun to grow again, acquiring new factories and expanding into more areas outside the arms industry. This includes the production of rolling stock for the state-owned rail operator Ferrocarriles Argentinos's freight division Trenes Argentinos Cargas y Logística, which recently ordered over 1,500 carriages.
In June 2015, the first 10 hopper cars manufactured by FM to transport cereal, were officially introduced as part of a contract to build 1050 cars for state-owned freight lines. The wagons were produced in FM's factory in Río Tercero, Córdoba and each one has a capacity for 45 tons of grains. It is expected that the factory will manufacture 3 wagons per day, to be used in the three lines operated by the National Government, the San Martín, Belgrano and Urquiza.
Other types of freight wagons to be produced by FM are flat, spine and tank cars.
On December 9, 2016, the Argentine Ministry of Defense announced FM had signed an accord with Beretta to produce the ARX-200 rifle and Px4 pistol under license. It is expected these weapons will replace the FM license-built FN FAL and Browning Hi-Power currently in Argentine inventory.
Military production
Pistols
- Sistema Colt Modelo 1927 - Licensed version of Colt 1911.
- FM Hi-Power - Licensed version of Browning Hi-Power.
Submachine guns
- FMK-3 - 9 mm indigenously designed submachine gun.
- PAM-1 & PAM-2 - Licensed version of M3 submachine gun.
Rifles
- FM FAL - Produced under license version of Belgium FN FAL battle rifle
- FM FAP - Heavy barrel version of the FN FAL (Squad automatic weapon)
- FM FSL - Semi-automatic version of the FN FAL
- FARA 83 - 5,56 mm locally designed assault rifle
- .22 Sport Rifle
Machines guns
- FN MAG - Produced under license.
Artillery
- FM Model 1968 - Anti-tank recoilless rifle.
- FM CITER L33 - 155 mm howitzer.
- FM L45 CALA 30 - 155 mm howitzer prototype.
- FMK.4 Modelo 1L - 105 mm tank gun, used in TAM.
- FM CP-30 - 127 mm rocket artillery.
- Model 1968 recoilless gun
- 60 mm, 81 mm, 120 mm mortars.
Munitions
- 7,65 mm Mauser
- 7,62 mm NATO
- 9 mm Parabellum
- .22 Long Rifle
- 12-gauge shotgun
- 127 mm rocket munitions
- 38.1 mm chemical ammunition
Other products
Civilian production
- Sulfuric acid
- Nitric acid
- Ammonium nitrate
- Diethyl ether
- Mining explosives
- Hopper car
Gallery
-
Argentine soldier with DGFM flamethrower (c.1940s)
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Box of 7.65 × 53 mm DGFM rounds
-
FM FAL Battle Rifle
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FN FAP rifle and FM submachine guns,
-
Pistol Sistema Colt Modelo 1927
-
Pistol Browning Hi-Power FMAP Rosario
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FMK-3 submachine gun
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FARA 83 Assault Rifle
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FN MAG machine gun
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Ñandú jeep (c.1940s)
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A 1960s tram
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Model 1968 Recoilless Gun, 105mm
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Mathogo anti-tank missile
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CITER L33 155 mm howitzer
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CP-30 127mm MRL
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127mm artillery rocket
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Rolling stock production at a DGFM factory
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See also
- Río Tercero explosion
- Scandal over Argentine arms sales to Ecuador and Croatia
- Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic
- Trams in Buenos Aires
References
- Mariela Ceva (2000). Historia social argentina en documentos. Editorial Biblos. pp. 198–. ISBN 978-950-786-245-8.
- Claudio Belini; Marcelo Rougier (1 January 2008). El Estado empresario en la industria argentina: conformación y crisis. Ediciones Manantial. pp. 336–. ISBN 978-987-500-122-0.
- Industria argentina: revista de opinión e información tecnológica. Industria Argentina. 1978.
- Varios Autores (3 October 2012). Argentina. La búsqueda de la democracia. Tomo 5 (1960-2000). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España. pp. 144–. ISBN 978-84-306-0161-5.
- Siderurgia latinoamericana. ILAFA. 1995.
- Claudio Belini; Marcelo Rougier (1 January 2008). El Estado empresario en la industria argentina: conformación y crisis. Ediciones Manantial. pp. 77–. ISBN 978-987-500-122-0.
- ^ Fabricaciones Militares construirá más de 1000 vagones para el Belgrano Cargas Archived 2015-05-09 at the Wayback Machine - Fabricaciones Militares
- Fabricaciones Militares Argentinas inaugura una nueva planta de producción de explosivos Archived 2015-07-05 at the Wayback Machine Defensa - 23 July 2014.
- Cristina presentó los primeros vagones construidos en Fabricaciones Militares - Telam, 1 July 2015.
- ^ "Presentaron vagones de carga fabricados en Río Tercero", Cadena 3, 1 Jul 2015
- Porfilio, Gabriel (21 December 2016). "Fabricas Militares licensed to make Beretta weapons". IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. 53 (51): 13.
- Infodefensa.com, Revista Defensa. "Fabricaciones Militares de Argentina producirá pistolas y fusiles Beretta". Infodefensa (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-23.
Further reading
- Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares: un pilar industrial del país. Torino, Manuel Cornejo. Ediciones Universidad Católica de Salta, Salta, Argentina, 2003. ISBN 950-623-010-2 (in Spanish)
External links
- Official website
- "Tratarán de resucitar Fabricaciones Militares" - Diario Río Negro, October 1st 2006 (in Spanish) accessed 2017-08-13
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