Fábrica Argentina de Aviones

Coordinates: 31°26′35.6″S 64°16′20.9″W / 31.443222°S 64.272472°W / -31.443222; -64.272472

Fábrica Argentina de Aviones "Brigadier San Martín" S.A.

Type	Sociedad Anónima
Industry	Aerospace, Defense
Founded	1927
Headquarters	Córdoba, Argentina
Key people	Matías Julián Savoca (chairman)[1]
Products	Aircraft, aircraft components, aircraft maintenance and services
Number of employees	1,600 (as of June 2014)
Website	www.fadeasa.com.ar

The Fábrica Argentina de Aviones SA (FAdeA), 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 (FMA), until its privatization in the 1990s to Lockheed Martin. In 2010 the concession ended and is now wholly owned by the Argentine government.

History

Late 1940s view of the FMA/IAe "Hangar 90" production line: I.Ae.22 DL (back) and I.Ae.24 Calquín (front)

1930s view of the FMA workshop

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 2 hours.

The factory is known for producing the first jet 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.

Privatization (1995)

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.

Nationalization (2010)

During the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the factory was nationalized 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." ^[2][3]

It 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.^[4]

Aircraft design and production

AeMB.2 Bombi bombers in flight

Pulqui I prototype in flight (c.1951)

I.Ae. 33 Pulqui II

DINFIA IA 35 Huanquero, utility aircraft designed in the early 1950s

Prototype IA 38 Naranjero under construction, early 1960s

IA 46 ‘’Super Ranquel’’ at San Justo airfield (Buenos Aires), April 1975

I.A. 50 Guarani II

I.A. 58 Pucará

I.A. 63 Pampa II

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:

• Ae, for "Dirección General de Aerotécnica", on the first period (1927–1936);
• F.M.A., for "Fábrica Militar de Aviones", on the second period (1938–1943);
• I.Ae., for "Instituto Aerotécnico", on the third period (1943–1952);
• IA, meaning not specified, on the fourth (current) period (1952 to present).

List of aircraft manufactured or projected

Gallery

Local designs

• 

  Prototype AeC.1 (1931)

• 

  AeT.1 (1933)

• 

  FMA 20 El Boyero (1940)

• 

  Prototype FMA 21 trainer (1943)

• 

  I.Ae. 22 DL advanced trainer (1944)

• 

  I.Ae. 23 trainer prototype, based on the FW-44J Stieglitz (1944)

• 

  I.Ae. 24 Calquin attack aircraft, c.1950

• 

  Prototype I.Ae. 25 Mañque glider (1945)

• 

  I.Ae. 30 Ñancú (1948)

• 

  IAe.31 Colibrí (1947)

• 

  I.Ae.32 Chingolo (1949)

• 

  I.Ae. 34 Clen Antú, tailless glider designed by Reimar Horten, late 1940s

• 

  Model I.A. 36 Cóndor, airliner designed by Kurt Tank, early 1950s

• 

  FMA I.Ae. 37 fighter prototype (1953)

• 

  IAe.41 Urubú flying wing glider (1953)

• 

  IA 45 Querandi light transport prototype (1957)

• 

  IA 53 Mamboretá agricultural aircraft prototype (mid-1960s)

• 

  IA-59, prototype Unmanned aerial vehicle, early 1970s

• 

  FMA IA 63 Pampa, Paris Air Show, 1991

• 

  CBA 123 / IA 70 prototype, Farnborough 1990

• 

  FAdeA I.A. 73 Unasur I mock-up

Manufactured under license

• 

  Curtiss Hawk 75O

• 

  FW-44J Stieglitz

• 

  Morane-Saulnier MS-760 Paris, Mendoza, 2005

See also

Other aircraft manufacturers in Argentina

• Aero Boero
• Cicaré Helicópteros
• Chincul

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bellomo, Sergio; Cordon Aguirre, Arturo; Marino, Atilio; Núñez Padin, Jorge (1999). Núñez Padin, Jorge Felix, ed. Curtiss Hawk. Serie Fuerza Aérea Argentina (in Spanish) 5. Bahía Blanca, Argentina: Fuerzas Aeronavales. 

• Arreguez, Angel Cesar (2008). Mansur, Sergio Luis, ed. Fabrica Militar de Aviones: Cronicas y Testimonios (in Spanish) (Second ed.). Cordoba, Argentina: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia de la Provincia de Cordoba. ISBN 978-987-24620-0-0. 

Further reading

• (Spanish) FÁBRICA MILITAR DE AVIONES: CRÓNICAS Y TESTIMONIOS, retrieved 2010-01-18 (PDF file available for download). Published in 2007 by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Provincia de Córdoba, Argentina (Córdoba's Province Science and Technology Ministry)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fábrica Militar de Aviones.

• (Spanish) Official site
• FMA history
• (Spanish) Aeromilitaria.com.ar
• "Former Lockheed Martin Argentina plant relaunched as FAdeA" FlightGlobal