- Fabrica Argentina de Aviones
-
Late 1940s historical photo of the FMA: production line of I.Ae.22 DL (back) and I.Ae.24 Calquín (front), "Hangar 90" of the FMA/IAe (photo: "Instituto Aerotécnico").
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.
Contents
History
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]
Aircraft Production
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).
Aircraft and projects
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 Vector2 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] References
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
- (Spanish) Official site
- FMA history
- (Spanish) Aeromilitaria.com.ar
- "Former Lockheed Martin Argentina plant relaunched as FAdeA" FlightGlobal
Aircraft produced by FMA/LMAASA/FAdeA MB.1 • MB.2 • ME.1 • MO.1 • MOe.1 • MOe.2 • MS.1 • T.1
FMA 20 • FMA 21 • IAe 22 • IAe 23 • IAe 24 • IAe 25 • IAe 27 • IAe 28 • IAe 30 • IAe 31 • IAe 32 • IAe 33 • IAe 34 • IAe 35 • IAe 36 • IAe 37 • IAe 38 • IA 41 • IA 43 • IA 44 • IA 45 • IA 46 • IA 47 • IAe 48 • IA 49 • IA 50 • IA 51 • IA 52 • IA 53 • IA 54 • IA 55 • IA 56 • IA 58 • IA 59 • IA 60 • IA 62 • IA 63 • IA 66 • IA 67 • IA 68 • IA 70
Lists relating to aviation General Aircraft (manufacturers) · Aircraft engines (manufacturers) · Airlines (defunct) · Airports · Civil authorities · Museums · Registration prefixes · Rotorcraft (manufacturers) · TimelineMilitary Accidents/incidents Records Categories:- Aircraft manufacturers of Argentina
- Argentine Air Force
- Defence companies of Argentina
- Former Lockheed Martin companies
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
