Company type | S.A. |
---|---|
Industry | Arms industry |
Founded | 3 July 1889 |
Founder | Henri Pieper |
Headquarters | , Belgium |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
Products | Firearms, ammunition |
Number of employees | 3,000 worldwide |
Parent | FN Browning Group |
Website | fnherstal |
Fabrique Nationale Herstal ( French for 'National Factory Herstal'), trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale, or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium, and former vehicle manufacturer. It was the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe as of 2012 [update] . [1]
FN Herstal is owned by FN Browning Group, [2] which is in turn owned by the regional government of Wallonia. [3] The Herstal Group also owns the Browning Arms Company and the U.S. Repeating Arms Company (Winchester). [3]
FN America is the U.S. subsidiary of FN Herstal, which was formed by the merger of FN's previous two American subsidiaries – FN Manufacturing and FNH USA. [4] A United Kingdom based manufacturing facility, FNH UK, is also in operation.
Firearms designed and/or manufactured by FN include the S.A.W. M249, Browning Hi-Power and Five-seven pistols, the FAL, FNC, F2000 and SCAR rifles, the P90 submachine gun, the M2 Browning, MAG, Minimi and the FN Evolys machine guns; [3] all have been commercially successful. [5] FN Herstal's firearms are used by the armed forces of over 100 countries. [6]
FN Herstal originated in the small city of Herstal, near Liège. The Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (French for 'National Factory of Weapons of War') was established in 1889 to manufacture 150,000 Mauser Model 89 rifles ordered by the Belgian government. [3] FN was co-founded by the major arms makers of the Liège region, with Henri Pieper of Anciens Etablissements Pieper being the driving force and the primary shareholder of the new company. In 1897, the company entered into a long-lasting relationship with John Browning, a well-known American firearms designer. [3]
The company was an important manufacturer of motor vehicles in Belgium, a development championed by Alexandre Galopin as managing director. FN cars were produced in Herstal from the early 1900s until 1935. Production of FN motorcycles continued until 1965, and production of trucks until 1970. [7] In 1973, FN changed its name to reflect a diversified product line far beyond just military Small Arms and Firearms manufacturing, adopting the current name of Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal. [8]
FN Herstal also had an aerospace engines division and became the only aircraft engine manufacturer in Benelux. Established 1949 in Liers, it manufactured parts, and made and assembled complete engines under licence from British, French and US companies. When four European countries, including Belgium, adopted the F-16 fighter in 1977, FN Herstal built an entirely new plant that made parts, assembled and tested the engines for these aircraft. The FN Division Moteurs also supplied parts for the Ariane space programme. However, by 1987, FN Herstal had divested itself of these activities, which today are part of the Safran Group.
One of Fabrique Nationale's handguns, a Model 1910 semi-automatic pistol in 9×17mm (.380 ACP) (serial number 19074), was one of four weapons that were taken from the assassins of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, although it is unknown which of the four weapons fired the fatal round.
Browning began the development of the GP35 "High Power" pistol, the GP standing for Grande Puissance (French for high power), which is well-known as the Browning Hi-Power. The weapon was finalized by FN's Dieudonné Saive and did not appear until 1935, nearly a decade after Browning's death; it remained in production until 2017.
The FN Manufacturing LLC plant in Columbia, South Carolina, is part of the military division of FN. It is primarily responsible for the production of U.S. military weapons, such as M16 rifles, SCARs, M249 light machine guns, M240 machine guns, and M2 machine guns. [3]
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized. FN Herstal named it the "High Power" in allusion to the 13-round magazine capacity, almost twice that of other designs at the time, such as the Walther P38 or Colt M1911.
John Moses Browning was an American firearm designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world. He made his first firearm at age 13 in his father's gun shop and was awarded the first of his 128 firearm patents on October 7, 1879, at the age of 24. He is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries and a pioneer of modern repeating, semi-automatic, and automatic firearms.
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms. The Gewehr 98 in particular was widely adopted and copied, becoming one of the most copied firearms designs and it is the foundation of many of today's sporting bolt-action rifles. Around 10 millions Gewehr 98 style rifles were produced.
The FN Five-seven is a semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The pistol is named for the 5.7×28mm cartridge's bullet diameter, and the trademark's capitalization style is intended to emphasize the manufacturer's initials—FN.
The Fabrique Nationale Model 1949 (often referred to as the FN-49, SAFN, or AFN is an autoloading battle rifle designed by Belgian small arms designer Dieudonné Saive in 1947. It was adopted by the militaries of Argentina, Belgium, the Belgian Congo, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Luxembourg, and Venezuela. The selective fire version produced for Belgium was known as the AFN.
The FN F2000 is a 5.56×45mm NATO bullpup rifle, designed by FN Herstal in Belgium. Its compact bullpup design includes a telescopic sight, a non-adjustable fixed notch and front blade secondary sight. The weapon has fully ambidextrous controls, allowed by a unique ejection system, ejecting spent cartridge casings forward and to the right side of the weapon, through a tube running above the barrel. The F2000 made its debut in March 2001 at the IDEX defence exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.
The U.S. Repeating Arms Company (USRAC) was an American manufacturer of firearms. It was established in 1981 and operated as an independent company until 1989, when it went bankrupt and was taken over by Fabrique Nationale Herstal. The company traced its origins to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, which was famous for making Winchester rifles.
Dieudonné Joseph Saive was a Belgian small arms designer who designed several well-known firearms for Belgian armsmaker Fabrique Nationale, including the Model 1949 and the FAL rifles. He is also known for modifying several of John Browning's firearms designs, including the 1931 Baby Browning and Browning Hi-Power pistols.
The Mark 48, or Mk 48, is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun chambered for 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, fed from a disintegrating belt or the non-disintegrating segmented German DM1 belt of ammunition.
The FN Special Police Rifle is a bolt-action sniper rifle marketed by FNH USA, a subsidiary of the Belgian company FN Herstal.
The FN Browning M1900 is a single action semi-automatic pistol designed c. 1896 by John Browning for Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) and produced in Belgium at the turn of the 20th century. It was the first production handgun to use a slide.
The FN Model 1903, or Browning No.2 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning and manufactured by Belgian arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN). It was introduced in 1903 and fired the 9×20mmSR Browning Long cartridge. It should not be confused with the US-made Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, nor with the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer. The FN Model 1903 is based on the same mechanical design as the Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless, which Browning sold to both companies, but enlarged to handle the more powerful 9mm Browning Long cartridge. The M1903's reliability, accuracy, light weight, and quick reloading made it a popular service pistol for many police forces and militaries. The pistol was initially introduced by FN as the Browning Modèle de Guerre or Browning Grand Modèle.
The FN FNP pistol is a series of semi-automatic, polymer-framed pistols manufactured in Columbia, South Carolina, by FNH USA, a division of Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. The handgun debuted in early 2006 and is variously chambered for the 9×19mm, .40 S&W, .357 SIG and .45 ACP cartridges.
FN HP-DA is a 9mm semi-automatic pistol developed by Belgian Fabrique Nationale arms factory in Herstal. In North American markets, it was marketed as the Browning BDA and is also referred to as Browning DA and Browning Hi-Power BDA.
The 1931 Fabrique Nationale (FN) Baby Browning is a small blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol designed by Belgium-born Dieudonné Saive chambered in .25 ACP. The pistol features a six-round magazine capacity and is a striker-fired, single action, blowback mechanism. The manual thumb operated safety locks the slide in the closed position when engaged using side thumb pressure.
The FNAR is a semi-automatic designated marksman rifle first introduced to the shooting public in 2008. It is a product of the US-based subsidiary of Belgian company FN Herstal, the FN Manufacturing Co. Despite the name, the FNAR is not an "AR" type rifle. Rather, the FNAR rifle is based on the proven and quite popular Browning BAR hunting rifle.
The M249 SAW, formally the Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the United States Armed Forces adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by FN Herstal (FN).
The FN 5.7×28mm is a small-caliber, high-velocity, smokeless-powder, rebated, non-tapered, bottleneck, centerfire cartridge designed for pistols and personal defense weapons (PDW) uses, manufactured by FN Herstal. It is similar in length to the .22 WMR and .22 Hornet. Unlike many new cartridges, it has no parent case; the complete package was developed from scratch by FN.
The Belgian Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre(National Manufacturer of War Weapons) company, also sometimes known as Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (National Manufacturer at Herstal), but better known simply as "FN" or "Fabrique Nationale" was founded at Herstal on the edge of Liège in 1889. As well as weapons, it was for many years a manufacturer of motorbikes and of automobiles.