The FAMAS ( French: ''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', lit. 'Assault rifle from the

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

Weapon Factory') is a

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978. It is known by French troops as ''Le Clairon'' (The

Bugle The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air a ...

) due to its distinctive shape. The FAMAS is known for its high rate of fire of around 900–1,100 rounds per minute. Beginning in 2017, the FAMAS was replaced in most frontline units in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

by the HK416F, and the FAMAS is expected to remain in limited service until 2028.

History

The first French bullpup rifles were developed between 1946 and 1950 at the AME (''Atelier Mécanique de Mulhouse'') and MAS, testing rounds such as .30 US Carbine, 7.92×33mm Kurz, 7.65×38mm (Made by ''Cartoucherie de Valence'') and some other intermediate calibres. Since France was engaged in the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

at the time, and was also the second-largest contributor to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, the research budgets for new types of weapons were limited and priority was given to the modernisation and production of existing service weapons. Nevertheless, approximately forty different

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...

calibre prototype rifles were developed between 1952 and 1962, most notably the

FA-MAS Type 62 The FA-MAS Type 62 is a 7.62×51mm NATO rifle developed by the French Army as a replacement for the MAS-49/56. It was the last in series of 40 different prototype rifles designed between 1952 and 1962. However, the introduction of the 5.56×45m ...

. However, the United States' adoption of the

M16 rifle The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States Armed Forces, United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56×45mm automatic ...

and 5.56×45mm cartridge caused the French to rethink their approach, and consequently, the Type 62 was not adopted. In the 1960s, MAS began to manufacture under licence the

Heckler & Koch G3 The Heckler & Koch G3 () is a selective fire, select-fire battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO developed in the 1950s by the German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned firearms manufacturer CE ...

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 differentiate automatic rifles chambered for fully powered cartridges from automatic rifles cha ...

and later on the

Heckler & Koch HK33 The Heckler & Koch HK33 is a 5.56mm assault rifle developed in the 1960s by West German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K), primarily for export. Building on the success of their G3 design, the company developed a family of small ...

as temporary substitutes. At the same time, the French embraced the idea of developing a new 5.56 mm automatic rifle. However, adopting the German-designed HK33 was considered unsatisfactory for many members of the French high command. General

Marcel Bigeard Marcel Bigeard (; February 14, 1916 – June 18, 2010), personal radio call-sign "Bruno", was a French military officer and politician who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was one of the commanders in the ...

was also against the idea of relying on foreign weapons; while visiting the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne, he asked the engineers to develop a homemade French 5.56 mm automatic rifle, which subsequently led to the creation and adoption of the FAMAS. The FAMAS project began in 1967 under the direction of General Paul Tellié (1919-2014) and the first prototype was completed in 1971, with French military evaluation of the rifle beginning in 1972. When production problems delayed the general issue of the new rifles, and with the 1978

Battle of Kolwezi The Battle of Kolwezi was an airborne operation by French and Belgian airborne forces that took place in May 1978 in Zaire during the Shaba II invasion of Zaire by the Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FLNC). It aimed at rescu ...

showing an immediate need for a more modern weapon to be comparable with the assault rifles of enemy forces, the

began searching for an emergency temporary rifle until the FAMAS came into full production. While the Heckler & Koch HK33 was considered, with a batch of 1,200 examples tested, it was ultimately turned down in favour of the

SIG SG 540 The SG 540 is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the early 1970s by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG, currently SAN Swiss Arms AG) of Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Neuhausen, Switzerland as a private venture primarily destined for ...

, made under licence by

Manurhin Manurhin is a trademark used by Chapuis Armes since 1998. It is used to designate the Manurhin MR 73 revolver family, manufactured at Saint-Bonnet-le-Château, France. The genesis of the term “Manurhin” is ''Manufacture de Machines du Ha ...

(''Manufacture de Machines du Haut Rhin'') as a temporary resort until enough domestically built FAMAS were produced to issue to French forces. In late 1978, the French military accepted the FAMAS as their standard-issue rifle, the FAMAS F1.

Service

The FAMAS first saw service in

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

during

Operation Manta Operation Manta was a French military intervention in Chad between 1983 and 1984, during the Chadian–Libyan conflict. The operation was prompted by the invasion of Chad by a joint force of Libyan units and Chadian Transitional Government of N ...

and again in desert operations during Operation

Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and in other various missions. Officially, operational conditions proved the weapon to be reliable and trustworthy under combat conditions. The FAMAS is affectionately known by French-speaking troops as ''le Clairon'' ("the

") because of its shape.

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

received a small number of FAMAS F1 rifles from France, though it was unknown when they received them.

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

uses this weapon in its military and the gendarmerie as the standard infantry weapon. The

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

also received a limited number and is used by the

Philippine National Police The Philippine National Police (PNP; ) is the national police force of the Philippines. Its national headquarters is located at Camp Crame in Bagong Lipunan ng Crame, Quezon City. Currently, it has approximately 228,000 personnel to police a pop ...

Special Action Force.

Replacement

In 2017, the French armed forces began retiring the FAMAS in favour of the German-made HK416. When the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne (MAS) factory closed in 2002, no more domestic rifles could be made. The last batch of newly produced FAMAS, built in 2002, saw more than a decade of heavy service by 2016. As of 2014, the French armed forces currently use an estimated 400,000 FAMAS F1 and G2 rifles still stored in their arsenal. The military also ceased manufacture of special steel-case ammunition for the FAMAS. Because the FAMAS did not function properly with

standard brass-cased ammunition (chamber fluting can allow the F1 to use brass cases but only G2 rifles can use common STANAG magazines), and coupled with concern over the age of existing weapons, the French military sought a replacement for the FAMAS. In May 2014, the French Ministry of Armed Forces announced a European Union-wide tender for a minimum of 90,000 rifles and carbines to be issued across the entire French armed forces. In August 2016, the Ministry selected Heckler and Koch's HK416 to replace the FAMAS as the new general-issue service rifle.http://www.janes.com/article/64230/french-army-selects-hk416-to-replace-famas French Army selects HK416 to replace FAMAS. Nicholas de Larrinaga. London. IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. 30 September 2016 Under the contract, the new rifle was designated as the HK416F, with 'F' standing for French version. 16,000 rifles will be annually purchased until a final total of 90,000 to 102,000 rifles are delivered. The new rifles are expected to remain in active French service for at least 30 years. The FAMAS will be issued to the

French National Guard The National Guard () is a French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution. It was founded as separate from the French Army and exi ...

and domestic police units, and will continue to serve in reserve and non-combat units until 2028, when a phaseout of the FAMAS with the HK416 can occur.

Design details

Action

The FAMAS is a

assault rifle, where the ammunition feed is behind the trigger. The receiver housing is made of a special steel alloy, and the rifle furniture is made of fibreglass. The rifle uses a lever-delayed blowback action, an action type also used in the French

AA-52 machine gun The term AA-5 or AA5 may refer to: * AA-5 Ash, NATO reporting name for the Bisnovat R-4 a Soviet long-range air-to-air missile * Grumman American AA-5, an American light aircraft * All American Five, a basic design for a mass-produced superheterody ...

derived from the prototypes built during Army Technical Department tests having taken place between the First and Second World Wars.

Ergonomics

Fire mode is controlled by a selector within the trigger guard, with three settings: safe (central position), single shot (to the right), and automatic fire (to the left). Automatic fire can be in three-shot bursts (''rafale'') or fully automatic; this is determined by another selector, located under the housing and behind the magazine. The FAMAS G2 weighs . The G1 and G2 have a large, grip-length trigger guard like that of the

Steyr AUG The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. The AUG was adopted by the Austri ...

to allow easy access to the trigger when wearing gloves. Both F1 and G2 models of the FAMAS feature a bipod attached to the upper hand-guard. The FAMAS-G2 and some F1 sport a "polyvalent hand-guard" which features a standard NATO Accessory Rail, allowing a variety of sights to be mounted, notably red dot sights and night vision units.

Ammunition

The FAMAS uses a delayed blowback operating system that functions best with French-specified steel-casing 5.56×45mm ammunition. Using standard brass-casing 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition employed by other armies can create over-pressure and case ruptures in the FAMAS during extraction, which can lead to severe malfunctions. Using incorrectly built ammunition also results in approximately two minor injuries for every million rounds fired from a FAMAS. As a result, the French military has discreetly banned the use of foreign-produced ammunition in all French-issued FAMAS. However, fluting the chamber will completely remove these malfunctions, although the brass casings will still be deformed and will not be able to be reloaded without reshaping. The FAMAS F1 uses a proprietary 25-round magazine. It has a chrome-lined barrel with 1 turn in 12 inch (1:12 inch) rifling and functions best with the (M193 type) ammunition. When using the French made 5.56 mm ammo it has a muzzle velocity of . The FAMAS G2 uses M16-type, NATO-compatible 30-round

STANAG magazine A STANAG magazine or NATO magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine proposed by NATO in October 1980. Shortly after NATO's acceptance of the 5.56×45mm NATO rifle cartridge, Draft Standardization Agreement ( STANAG) 4179 was proposed i ...

s. It has a chrome-lined barrel with 1 turn in 9 inch (1:9 inch) rifling and functions equally well with both the older (M193 type) ammo and the newer (SS109 type) ammo. When using the French made 5.56 mm ammo it has a muzzle velocity of . During training with blank ammunition, a special plug is added to the muzzle of the FAMAS. This plug is necessary for automatic or semi-automatic blank fire operation, and functions by blocking part of the gas used in a blank cartridge.

Rifle grenades

The FAMAS can use a variety of rifle grenades up to . Notable examples include the antipersonnel APAV40 and the anti-tank

AC58 The AC 58 (Anti-Char, 58 mm) is an anti-armour rifle grenade used by the French Army. Its official French Army designation is ''Grenade à fusil antichar de 58 mm Mle F1 PAB''. Design The AC 58 comprises a body with a shaped charge wa ...

. The FAMAS features two

alidade An alidade () (archaic forms include alhidade, alhidad, alidad) or a turning board is a device that allows one to sight a distant object and use the line of sight to perform a task. This task can be, for example, to Triangulation (surveying), tr ...

s for aiming rifle grenades with several modes: * direct fire at , in anti-vehicle role * indirect fire, in anti-personnel role: ** with the FAMAS inclined by 45°, allowing fire from ** with the FAMAS inclined by 75°, allowing fire from In indirect fire mode the grenade support (more exactly named "grenade enforcement ring" in French) is moved forwards or backwards on the barrel which has markings (12/13?). This changes the position of the grenade on the barrel and automatically the volume of the chamber in which the gas expands to push the grenade forward. Each position of the grenade support has a number which is multiplied by a certain fixed number depending on the alidade position, 45° or 75°; this will accurately indicate the firing distance of the grenade. The FAMAS can also accommodate an external grenade launcher as an add-on module under the hand guard; the US M203 grenade launcher is sometimes used.

Variants

FAMAS F1

After adoption by the French military, the FAMAS F1 replaced both the aging MAS 49/56 rifle and

MAT-49 The MAT-49 is a submachine gun which was developed by the French arms factory Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT) for use by the French Army. It was first produced in 1949 and remained in French service until it was phased out following ...

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine (firearms), magazine-fed automatic firearm, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to descri ...

. Approximately 400,000 FAMAS F1 assault rifles were produced by MAS. While a capable rifle, the F1 had numerous problems to overcome. For instance, many plastic pieces on the rifle easily broke, including critical parts like the cheek riser. The FAMAS was also susceptible to malfunction on occasion due to poorly built, or rather improperly used, magazines. The FAMAS was designed around the concept of single-use, disposable magazines; when the limited budget of the French military forced soldiers to repeatedly reuse the disposable magazines, the FAMAS would experience malfunctions. MAS would eventually manufacture more durable magazines for the FAMAS that improved reliability.

FAMAS G1

The F1 was followed by the G1 version that included several minor improvements, such as redesigned grips and an enlarged trigger guard for operation with gloves. However, the G1 remained conceptual and was never actually produced.

FAMAS G2

The FAMAS G2 was developed in 1994 to comply with NATO standards by accepting standard NATO magazines and by employing tighter barrel rifling to accurately fire both older 5.56 mm ammunition and new standard 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. The ammunition specific lever-delayed blowback mechanism of the FAMAS F1 designed around French steel cased ammunition was slightly revised for reliably using 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. The FAMAS G2 also included several other upgrades taken from the G1 model, such as an enlarged trigger guard and improved hand guards made from reinforced fiberglass instead of plastic, and also the ability to take standard brass cased ammunition as well as French made steel ammunition. The

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

purchased the FAMAS G2 in 1995 and issued it to their Fusiliers Marins and

Commandos Marine The Commandos Marine, nicknamed ''Bérets Verts'' (Green Berets), are the special operation forces (SOF) of the French Navy, headquartered in Lorient, Brittany in western France. They operate under the Special Operations Command (COS), FOR ...

. However, the French army refused to purchase the G2, preferring to rely on the FAMAS F1 as their primary rifle.

FAMAS Infantry

The FAMAS Infantry is an improvement of the FAMAS F1, obtained by retrofitting an accessory rail onto the top of the handguard. This allows mounting combat optics, most notably

reflex sight A reflector sight or reflex sight is an optical sight that allows the user to look through a partially reflecting glass element and see an aiming point or some image (helping to aim the device, to which the sight is attached, on the target) sup ...

s or the 4×26.4 SCROME J4 telescopic sight.

FAMAS FÉLIN

The FAMAS FÉLIN was developed from the G2 as part of the Infantryman programme with integrated equipment and links (FÉLIN) An improved version of the FAMAS F1 is integrated in the Félin system.

FAMAS Valorisé

A FAMAS F1 whose carry handle has been replaced by the new version intended for the FAMAS Félin, lowered and originally equipped with 2 Picatinny rails. In addition, the bipod joint has been moved back about ten centimetres and each foot is now bent in 2 points forward, so that in the folded position they do not interfere with the ejection of empty cases.

FAMAS Commando

The FAMAS Commando was a short-barrelled version of the FAMAS G2 for international exports, with a barrel length of 285mm (11.2 in) without the integrated bipod. Prototypes of the weapon differ, with different iron sights and ergonomics. The FAMAS saw no international interest and only initial prototypes of the Commando exist and solely kept by the French Ministry of the Interior.

Conflicts

The FAMAS has been used in the following conflicts:

Users

* : Special forces * * * : Presidential Guard and Army * Jones, Richard D. ''Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010''. Jane's Information Group; 35 edition (27 January 2009). . * : Used by the

GIGN The GIGN ( ; ) is the elite police tactical unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Among its missions are counterterrorism, hostage rescue, surveillance of national threats, protection of government officials, critical site protection (such ...

and

French Armed Forces The French Armed Forces (, ) are the military forces of France. They consist of four military branches – the Army, the Navy, the Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie. The National Guard serves as the French Armed Forces' milita ...

since 1979, with over 700,000 rifles purchased.Marchington, James (2004). ''The Encyclopedia of Handheld Weapons''. Lewis International, Inc. Began to be replaced by the Heckler & Koch HK416 starting in 2017. Also used by several

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

. * * : '' Komando Pasukan Katak'' (KOPASKA) tactical diver group and ''

Komando Pasukan Khusus The Kopassus (, Special Forces Command) is an Indonesian Army (TNI-AD) special forces group that conducts special operations missions for the Indonesian government, such as direct action, unconventional warfare, sabotage, counter-insurgency, ...

'' (Kopassus) special forces group. * Iraqi insurgents * :

Alassane Ouattara Alassane Dramane Ouattara (; ; born 1 January 1942) is an Ivorian politician and economist who has been List of heads of state of Ivory Coast, President of Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) since 2010. An economist by profession, he worked for the I ...

's FRCI are said to have received some FAMAS in 2011 but that claim is disputed. *

Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (, FLNKS) is a pro-independence alliance of political parties in New Caledonia. It was founded in 1984 at a congress of various political parties. Its supporters are mostly from the Kanak indig ...

* * * : Some captured by Russian troops. * * : On September 14-15, 2023, an unknown number of FAMAS were donated to the Suriname army to help them fight against illegal fishing and

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

The weapons were awarded in a ceremony attended by French ambassador, Nicolas de Lacoste. * : A few FAMAS F1s used by the

Syrian Arab Army The Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF; ) were the combined armed forces of Syria from 1963 to 2024. They served during the rule of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. The SAAF consisted of the Syrian Arab Army, Syrian Arab Air Force, Syrian Arab Air D ...

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

and

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

* : 1,000 delivered by France in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. * Bishop, Chris. ''Guns in Combat''. Chartwell Books, Inc (1998). . *

Sources and references

External links

Official Nexter FAMAS page

Buddy Hinton: FAMAS Photo Collection

Modern Firearms: FAMAS

The Firearm Blog: R.I.P General Paul Tellié, Father of the FAMAS

Nazarian's Gun's Recognition Guide: MAS .223 semi-automatic rifle Manual (.pdf)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Famas 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles Bullpup rifles Cold War weapons of France Lever-delayed blowback firearms Military equipment introduced in the 1980s KNDS France Assault rifles of France Rifles of the Cold War Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1978