The Fábrica Argentina de Aviones or FAdeA SA officially Fábrica Argentina de Aviones "Brigadier San Martín" S.A., is Argentina's main aircraft manufacturer. Founded on 10 October 1927 and located in Córdoba, for most of its existence it was known as Fábrica Militar de Aviones (hence the acronym FMA), until its privatisation in the 1990s. On 2010 the concession ended and is now wholly owned by the Argentine government.
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Formed on October 10, 1927 and on July 18, 1928 ends the construction and testing begins on the track the first domestically produced aircraft: the license built Avro 504 Gosport training aircraft equipped with a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome engine. It had a speed of 140 km/h with a flying endurance of 2hours.
The factory is known for producing the first fighter aircraft in Latin America: the Pulqui I (1947) and the Pulqui II (1950) under the direction of engineers Emile Dewoitine (French) and Kurt Tank (German) respectively.
FMA was closed in 1995 and was privatized by the government of Carlos Menem and from 1995 until March 2009 it belonged concession to LMAASA (Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina SA, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation). Under the terms of the privatization agreement LMAASA would operate it for 25 years and could be renewed for two 10 year periods.
During the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the factory was nationalised in August 2009 after paying ARS $67 million. The text of the expropriation law provides that "the State shall not return to get rid of a majority stake in the power or decision-making factory." [1][2]
Its was renamed after Argentine Air Force Brigadier es:Juan Ignacio San Martín a military engineer who laid the foundations of the aeronautics industry at Córdoba when he directed the Instituto Aerotécnico, the forerunner of the FMA, in the 1940s.
The United States Department of State announced that effective December 18, 2009, Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina would be renamed to Fábrica Argentina de Aviones "Brigadier San Martin" S.A. and divested to the Government of Argentina.[3]
The FMA has produced numerous innovative aircraft prototypes, but the state of the Argentine economy has usually prevented most of them from entering large-scale production. Nevertheless the FMA has managed to put several aircraft types of more conventional designs into full productions. It also engaged in production of licensed aircraft from other countries.
The prefixes used for the aircraft locally developed (and produced) are:
| Year | Model | Built | Obs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Started as Instituto Aerotécnico | |||
| 1928 | Avro 504K "Gosport" | 31 | Biplane basic trainer, license-built. First aircraft produced by FMA. |
| 1930 | Dewoitine D.21 | 35 | Biplane fighter, license-built. |
| 1931 | Ae.C.1 | 1 | Civil tourism aircraft prototype (initial version); basic trainer (later version). First national design. |
| 1932 | Ae C2 / Ae.M.E.1 | 2 | Civil tourism aircraft (C2); basic military trainer (M.E.1) |
| 1933 | Ae.T.1 | 3 | Transport/commercial aircraft |
| 1934 | Ae.M.O.1 | 41 | Observation monoplane |
| 1934 | Ae.M.Oe.1 / Ae.M.Oe.2 | 6+14 | Variant of the Ae.M.O.1, observation and training |
| 1934 | Ae.C.3 | 16 | Civil aircraft. |
| 1935 | Ae.M.B.1 / Ae.M.B.2 Bombi | 1+14 | First bomber aircraft built by FMA |
| 1935 | Ae. M.S.1 | 1 | Sanitary aircraft |
| 1936 | Ae.C.3G | 1 | Tourism aircraft. |
| 1936 | Ae.C. 4 | 1 | Improved prototype version of the C.3G |
| Name changed to Fabrica Militar de Aviones | |||
| 1940 | Curtiss "Hawk" 75O | 20 | License built version of the US monoplane fighter Curtiss Hawk 75 |
| 1940 | Focke-Wulf Fw-44J "Stieglitz" | 190 | License built version of the German biplane trainer Focke-Wulf Fw 44 |
| 1940 | FMA 20 El Boyero (I.Ae. 20) | 130 | Tourism aircraft, series built by "Industrias Petrolini" |
| 1943 | F.M.A. 21 | 1 | Advanced trainer aircraft prototype, based on the North American NA-16-1P fuselage. |
| 1943 | I.Ae. 22 "DL" | 206 | Advanced trainer aircraft |
| 1945 | I.Ae. 23 | 1 | Basic trainer prototype, based on the Focke-Wulf Fw44J |
| 1945 | I.Ae. 25 Mañque | 1 | Assault/Transport glider. |
| 1946 | I.Ae. 24 Calquín | 100 | Attack/Light bomber |
| 1947 | I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I | 1 | Jet fighter prototype, first of its kind built in Latin America. |
| 1947 | I.Ae. 31 Colibrí | 3 | Two-seat Trainer aircraft |
| 1948 | I.Ae. 30 Ñancú | 1 | Fighter/Attack prototype |
| 1949 | I.Ae. 32 Chingolo | 1 | Tourism/Trainer aircraft |
| 1949 | I.Ae. 34 Clen Antú | 3+1+3 | Glider, flying wing. Designed by Reimar Horten, also known as the Horten XVa and XVb |
| 1950 | I.Ae. 33 Pulqui II | 5 | First swept-wing jet fighter designed in Latin America |
| 1953 | I.Ae. 35 Huanquero | 2+3+20+9(+1+1) | Transport aircraft; variants "Constancia" and "Pandora" executive aircraft. |
| 1953 | I.Ae. 41 Urubú | 4 | Flying-wing glider, designed by Reimar Horten, also known as the Horten XVc. |
| 1953 | I.Ae. 43 Pulqui III | 0 | Project, swept-wing supersonic jet fighter |
| I.Ae. 36 "Cóndor" | 0 | Project unbuilt, civil transport | |
| 1954 | I.Ae. 37 | 1 | Supersonic delta-wing interceptor, designed by Reimar Horten. Glider, unpowered prototype only. |
| 1960 | I.Ae. 38 Naranjero | 1 | Flying-wing transport/cargo, designed by Reimar Horten. |
| 1953 | I.Ae. 44 "DL" II | 0 | Advanced trainer (project, unbuilt) |
| 1959 | I.Ae. 45 Querandí | 2 | Executive transport, prototypes only (NOTE: some sources mention "1957" and "1" built) |
| 1957 | I.Ae. 46 Ranquel | 101+116 | 2-seat utility aircraft. Second series, enhanced variant "Super Ranquel". |
| 1960 | IA 35 Guaraní I | 1 | Approximate date, transport derived from the I.Ae. 35 "Huanquero" |
| 1963 | FMA IA 50 Guaraní II | 1+2+18+14 | Transport aircraft, derived from the IA 35 Guaraní I |
| Beechcraft T-34 Mentor | 75 | Trainer, licence built | |
| 1960 | Morane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris | 48 | Trainer, licence built |
| 1975 | FMA IA 58 Pucará | 120 | Counter-insurgency/light attack aircraft |
| 1978 | FMA IA 62 | 0 | military trainer aircraft. unbuilt |
| 1983 | FMA IA 66 Pucará II | 1 | After the 'Malvinas/Falkland' war a revised version of Pucara was designed. It used a IA-58 as base with more powerful engines, single seat design, and better IR protection. The program was cancelled after the prototype was homologated. |
| 1984 | FMA IA 63 Pampa | 20+12 | Advanced trainer. AT-63 currently under production |
| 1990 | (IA 70) Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector |
2 | Turboprop 19-passenger regional airliner, only protptypes built before being cancelled [4] |
| IA 67 Córdoba | Light attack bomber project, unbuilt (mid-1980s) | ||
| FMA SAIA 90 | Supersonic air superiority jet fighter project, unbuilt (mid-1980s) | ||
| Name changed to Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina SA | |||
| 1999 | A-4AR Fightinghawk | 18 | other 18 by Lockheed Martin in Pasadena, California. |
| 2003 | T-34 Mentor | Refurbished of Argentine and Bolivia Air Forces | |
| 2006 | C-130 Hercules | Refurbished of Argentine and Colombian Air Forces | |
| Name changed to FADEA SA | |||
| 2009 | FMA IA 63 Pampa | Changing power plant | |
| 2010 | FMA IA 58 Pucará | Changing power plant and avionics | |
| 2013 | IA 73 | basic trainer to replace T-34 [5] | |
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