Fábrica Argentina de Aviones

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)
Products	Aircraft, aircraft components, aircraft maintenance and services
Number of employees	1,600 (as of June 2014)
Website	www.fadeasa.com.ar

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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

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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

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	Monoplane fighter, license-built.
1931	FMA AeC.1	1	Civil tourism aircraft prototype (initial version); basic trainer (later version). First national design.
1932	FMA AeC.2	2	Civil tourism aircraft
1932	FMA AeME.1	7	basic military trainer
1933	FMA AeT.1	3	Transport/commercial aircraft
1934	FMA AeMO.1	41	Observation monoplane
1934	FMA AeMOe.1	6	Derivative of the AeMO.1, observation and training
1934	FMA AeMOe.2	61	Variant of the AeMOe.1, observation and training
1934	FMA AeC.3	16	Civil aircraft.
1935	FMA AeMB.1	1	First bomber aircraft built by FMA
1935	FMA AeMB.2	14	First bomber aircraft built by FMA
1935	FMA AeMS.1	1	Ambulance aircraft
1936	FMA AeC.3G	1	Tourism aircraft.
1936	FMA AeC.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^[5]
1940	Focke-Wulf Fw 44J Stieglitz	190	License built version of the German biplane trainer
1940	FMA I.Ae.20 El Boyero	130	Tourism aircraft, series built by "Industrias Petrolini"
1943	FMA I.Ae.21	1	Advanced trainer aircraft prototype, based on the North American NA-16-1P fuselage.
1943	FMA I.Ae.22 DL	206	Advanced trainer aircraft
1945	FMA I.Ae.23	1	Basic trainer prototype, based on the Focke-Wulf Fw44J
1945	FMA I.Ae.25 Mañque	1	Assault/Transport glider.
1946	FMA I.Ae.24 Calquín	100	Attack/Light bomber
1947	FMA I.Ae.27 Pulqui	1	Jet fighter prototype, first of its kind built in Latin America.
1947	FMA I.Ae.31 Colibrí	3	Two-seat Trainer aircraft
1948	FMA I.Ae.30 Ñancú	1	Fighter/Attack prototype
1949	FMA I.Ae.32 Chingolo	1	Tourism/Trainer aircraft
1949	FMA I.Ae.34 Clen Antú	3+1+3	Glider, flying wing. Designed by Reimar Horten, also known as the Horten XVa and XVb
1950	FMA I.Ae.33 Pulqui II	5	First swept-wing jet fighter designed in Latin America
1953	DINFIA IA35 Huanquero	2+3+20+9(+1+1)	Transport aircraft; variants "Constancia" and "Pandora" executive aircraft.
1953	FMA I.Ae.41 Urubú	4	Flying-wing glider, designed by Reimar Horten, also known as the Horten XVc.
1953	FMA I.Ae.43 Pulqui III	0	Project, swept-wing supersonic jet fighter
	FMA I.Ae.36 Cóndor	0	Civil passenger transport, designed by Kurt Tank. Project cancelled, no prototypes built.
1954	FMA 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	FMA IAe.44 DL.II	0	Advanced trainer (project, none built)
1959	DINFIA IA 45 Querandí	2	Executive transport, prototypes only (NOTE: some sources mention "1957" and "1" built)
1957	FMA I.Ae. 46 Ranquel	101+116	2-seat utility aircraft. Second series, enhanced variant "Super Ranquel".
1960	FMA I.Ae. 48	Cancelled	Fighter aircraft
1960	DINFIA IA 35 Guaraní I	1	Approximate date, transport derived from the I.Ae. 35 "Huanquero"
1963	DINFIA 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
1965	IA 53 Mamboretá	2	Agricultural aircraft
1960	Morane-Saulnier MS.760 Paris	48	Trainer, licence built
1967	FMA IA 58 Pucará	120	Counter-insurgency/light attack aircraft
1975	FMA IA 60	0	Advanced trainer/light attack (project)^[6]
1978	FMA IA 62	0	Military trainer (project)
1980	FMA IA 66 Pucará II	1	Single prototype; converted IA-58A powered by two 1,000-ehp (746-kW) Garrett TPE331-11-601W turboprop engines.
1984	FMA IA 63 Pampa	20+12	Advanced trainer. AT-63 currently under production
1985	FMA IA 58C Pucará "Charlie"	1	After the 'Malvinas/Falkland' war a revised version of Pucara was designed, a single seat design with 30 mm DEFA cannon, air-to-surface missiles, and better IR protection. The program was cancelled after the prototype was homologated.
(mid-1980s)	IA 67 Córdoba	0	Light transport (project)^[7]
(mid-1980s)	IA 68 ATL	0	Light transport (project); cancelled^{[citation needed]}
(mid-1980s)	FMA SAIA 90	0	Supersonic air superiority jet fighter project; cancelled
1990	(IA 70) Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector	2	Turboprop 19-passenger regional airliner, only prototypes built before being cancelled ^[8]
Name changed to Lockheed Martin Aircraft Argentina SA
1999	Lockheed Martin A-4AR Fightinghawk	18	other 18 by Lockheed Martin in Pasadena, California.
2003	Beechcraft T-34 Mentor		Refurbishment of Argentine and Bolivia Air Forces
2006	Lockheed C-130 Hercules		Refurbishment of Argentine Air Force and Colombian Air Force aircraft.
Name changed to FAdeA S.A.
2009	FMA IA 63 Pampa		Changing power plant
2010	FMA IA 58 Pucará		Changing power plant and avionics
2013	FAdeA IA 73		basic trainer to replace T-34 ^[9]