Fabricaciones Militares, the full name is Fabricaciones Militares Sociedad del Estado (Spanish for Military Industries State Corporation), is a state-owned

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish ( masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines ...

arms manufacturer based in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

. 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

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable ...

s. 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 The Argentine defense industry has developed, over the years, different programs to improve the armed forces of Argentina. The first major steps to establish a defense industry were made during the Second World War and they received a boost durin ...

to compensate for the shortfall of imports that came about during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In its early years, it produced primarily small arms and

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

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 The Buenos Aires Underground ( es, Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, links=no), locally known as Subte (), is a rapid transit system that serves the area of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The first section of this network (Plaza de Mayo–Pl ...

.Fabricaciones Militares construirá más de 1000 vagones para el Belgrano Cargas
- Fabricaciones Militares In more recent years, the company has begun to grow again, acquiring new factories and expanding into more areas outside the

arms industry The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and ...

. 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 car A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with ...

s manufactured by FM to transport

cereal A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more foo ...

, 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 Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Belg ...

and Urquiza."Presentaron vagones de carga fabricados en Río Tercero"
Cadena 3, 1 Jul 2015 Other types of freight wagons to be produced by FM are flat, spine and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful e ...

cars. On December 9 2016, the Argentine Ministry of Defense announced FM had signed an accord with

Beretta Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (; "Pietro Beretta Weapon Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and milita ...

to produce the ARX-200 rifle and Px4 pistol under license. It is expected these weapons will replace the FM license-built

FN FAL The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN). During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...

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 A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge. The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16 ...

*FM FAP - Heavy barrel version of the FN FAL (

Squad automatic weapon A squad automatic weapon (SAW), also known as a section automatic weapon or light support weapon (LSW), is a man-portable automatic firearm attached to infantry squads or sections as a source of rapid direct firepower. Weapons fulfilling th ...

) *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 The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it has been made under licence in several countries, in ...

- Produced under license.

Artillery

* FM Model 1968 - Anti-tank

recoilless rifle A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...

. * FM CITER L33 - 155 mm

howitzer A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an Artillery, artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a Mortar (weapon), mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and de ...

. * FM L45 CALA 30 - 155 mm

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 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

*12-gauge shotgun *127 mm rocket munitions *38.1 mm chemical ammunition

Other products

Gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate ( saltpeter) ...

*Artillery propellants *Ballistic protection *HE-FRAG and tear gas

grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ge ...

Civilian production

* Sulfuric acid *

Nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available ni ...

Ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It ...

Diethyl ether Diethyl ether, or simply ether, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula , sometimes abbreviated as (see Pseudoelement symbols). It is a colourless, highly volatile, sweet-smelling ("ethereal odour"), extremely flammable liq ...

*Mining explosives *

Hopper car A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with ...

Gallery

File:Argentine soldier with DGFM flamethrower.jpg, Argentine soldier with

DGFM flamethrower The DGFM flamethrower was a flamethrower of Argentine origin manufactured in the 1916s by Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares Fabricaciones Militares, the full name is Fabricaciones Militares Sociedad del Estado (Spanish for Military ...

(c.1940s) File:Caja765.jpg, Box of 7.65 × 53 mm DGFM rounds File:Armamento_-_Museo_de_Armas_de_la_Nación_19.JPG, FM FAL Battle Rifle File:Armamento_-_Museo_de_Armas_de_la_Nación_18.JPG, FN FAP rifle and FM submachine guns, File:Fm rosarina.JPG, Pistol Sistema Colt Modelo 1927 File:BrowningRosarina.JPG, Pistol Browning Hi-Power FMAP Rosario File:Pa3dm-fmk3-mod2.jpg, FMK-3 submachine gun File:FARA 83.JPG, FARA 83 Assault Rifle File:FN MAG trípode.JPG,

machine gun File:Ñandú (jeep).jpg, Ñandú jeep (c.1940s) File:TranviaBsAs.jpg, A 1960s tram File:Czekalski cañón sin retroceso.JPG, Model 1968 Recoilless Gun, 105mm File:Mathogo-1.jpg,

Mathogo The Mathogo (Acronym for ''Misil Anti-Tanque Hilo Guiado'' - en, Wire Guided Anti-Tank Missile) is an Argentine first-generation wire-guided anti-tank missile. Background The anti-tank missiles ( ATGW, anti-tank guided weapons) evolved in ...

anti-tank missile File:CITER L33 155 mm.JPG, CITER L33 155mm howitzer File:CP-30 127 mm.JPG, CP-30 127mm MRL File:Cohete de 127 mm.JPG, 127mm artillery rocket File:Vagón-Tolva-Granero-de-Fabricaciones-Militares-2.jpg, Rolling stock production at a DGFM factory

References

External links

*
"Tratarán de resucitar Fabricaciones Militares" - Diario Río Negro, October 1st 2006
''accessed 2017-08-13'' {{Rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina Manufacturing companies established in 1941 Rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina Defense companies of Argentina Argentine companies established in 1941