Gafat Armament Engineering Complex is an Ethiopian arms industry and one of the military production facilities of the Metals and Engineering Corporation. [1] With its headquarters in Bishoftu, it specializes in producing wide range of infantry equipment that meet the requirement of the Ethiopian National Defense Force.
It was established in January 1986 as the Gafat Engineering Factory to fulfill the need for local manufacture of basic infantry equipment. It initially produced AK-47 automatic rifles and light machine guns, as well as maintenance. It was later expanded to manufacture PK machine guns, and automatic weapons attached on armoured vehicles and helicopters.
To fully utilize its manufacturing capacity, the complex has diversified by supplying various items for civilian use.
It is often believed that North Korean advisors assisted with manufacturing of small arms.
Military products include: various types of automatic rifles and machine guns; 40 mm grenade launchers; various types of guns such as hand guns, strike dispensing guns, etc.; and sniper scopes.
Civilian products include: various plastic products; various products for different industries in construction; and various kitchen wares and household utensils.
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries.
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed 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 describe its design concept as an automatic firearm with notably less firepower than a machine gun. As a machine gun must fire rifle cartridges to be classified as such, submachine guns are not considered machine guns.
The M14 rifle, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber 7.62 mm, M14, is an American select fire battle rifle chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. It became the standard-issue rifle for the U.S. military in 1957, replacing the M1 Garand rifle in service with the U.S. Army by 1958 and the U.S. Marine Corps by 1965; deliveries of service rifles to the U.S. Army began in 1959. The M14 was used by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps for Basic and Advanced Individual Training from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.
The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benét–Mercié machine guns that US forces had previously been issued.
The SKS is a semi-automatic rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov in 1945.
Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with the remainder being divested as Vickers plc in 1977.
JSC Kalashnikov Concern, known until 2013 as the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, is a Russian defense manufacturing concern and joint-stock company headquartered in the city of Izhevsk in the Republic of Udmurtia as well as the capital city of Moscow. The concern designs and produces a wide range of civilian and military weapons including assault rifles, sniper rifles, designated marksman rifles, machine guns, squad automatic weapons, hunting rifles, shotguns, guided artillery projectiles, and a wide range of other precision weapons including remote controlled weapon stations, unmanned vehicles and military robots.
The AK-103 is an assault rifle designed by Russian small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.
The Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) is a major firearms and a defence contractor headquartered in Wah Cantt, Punjab, Pakistan. Described as "the largest defence industrial complex under the Ministry of Defence Production, producing conventional arms and ammunition to the international standards" by the Government of Pakistan.
The Hellenic Arms Industry is the main arms manufacturer of Greece. Its creation is linked to a desire of Greek governments for "complete self-sufficiency" of Greece in the areas of personal and other weapons.
Howa Machinery, Ltd. is a Japanese machinery manufacturer known internationally for their production of military and civilian firearms. They also manufacture products such as machine tools, sweeping vehicles and windows and doors.
The Defence Industry of Pakistan, established in September 1951, mainly falls under the purview of the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP). It aims to foster collaboration and oversee the diverse range of military production facilities that have emerged since Pakistan's independence. The MoDP comprises specialized organizations, each dedicated to various aspects of the defence industry, including research and development, production, and administration.
The Ministry of Defence Industry of Azerbaijan is a governmental agency within the Cabinet of Azerbaijan in charge of design, manufacturing, regulation and maintenance of products in the fields of defense, radio electronics, instrument engineering.
The Type CQ is an unlicensed Chinese variant of the M16 rifle manufactured by Norinco. According to the Norinco website, the rifle is officially known as CQ 5.56.
The AKM is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It was developed as the successor to the AK-47 adopted by the Soviet Union a decade prior.
The Military Industry Corporation is the state-run defense corporation of Sudan. It is responsible for the production of a wide range of defence equipment, such as munitions, firearms, artillery etc.
Lithgow Arms is an Australian small arms manufacturer located in the town of Lithgow, New South Wales. Established by the Australian Government in 1912 as the Lithgow Small Arms Factory to ease reliance on the British for the supply of defence materials, it is currently owned by Thales Australia.
Kalashnikov rifles, also known as the AK platform, AK rifles or simply the AK, are a family of assault rifles based on Mikhail Kalashnikov's original design. They are officially known in Russian as avtomat Kalashnikova, and informally as "kalash" in Russian. They were originally manufactured in the Soviet Union, first by Izhmash and later by Kalashnikov Concern. Rifles similar to the Kalashnikov and its Soviet variants were later produced in many countries friendly to the Soviet Bloc, with rifles based on its design such as the Galil ACE and the INSAS also being produced. The Kalashnikov is one of the most widely used firearms in the world, with an estimated 72 million rifles in global circulation.
The Defense Industry Sector is an office under the Ministry of Defense responsible for administering several defense industries in Ethiopia. Its objective is to provide for and support the Ethiopian National Defense Force.
JSC Arsenal AD is a Bulgarian joint-stock company based in Kazanlak, engaged primarily in the manufacture of firearms and military equipment. It is Bulgaria's oldest arms supplier.
FDRE Defence Industry, May 2008