"World Policy Group" profile of FN

FN Manufacturing Inc./FN Herstal
The Herstal Group
Company History and Products
The Herstal Group is comprised of the parent company Herstal, and its two main subsidiaries: FN Herstal and Browning and US Repeating Arms Company. The Herstal Group has offices in Liège, Belgium, as well as in nine other European countries, North America, and Asia. Each subsidiary has its own research, development and manufacturing components, and its own global distribution networks. FN Herstal's products are used by the Armed Forces of more than 100 countries.

Browning of Morgan, Utah produces shotguns, rifles, handguns and the Browning M1919 A4, A6. US Repeating Arms Company, located in New Haven, CT, specializes in Winchester rifles and shotguns.

It is no coincidence that FN Manufacturing, the company's main US facility, is in South Carolina, the home state of former Senate Armed Services Chairman, Strom Thurmond, and current House Armed Services Chairman, Floyd Spence. FN Manufacturing produces small caliber weapons and machine guns such as M16, M240, M249, SAW, and the 49 pistol for military and law enforcement markets. FN Manufacturing is one of the US Army's prime contractors of small arms.

FN Herstal produces:

M16A2 5.56mm assault rifle (NATO standard) (also produced by Colt Manufacturing)
M249 Minimi 5.56mm machine gun
FN MAG (NATO standard machine gun)
M240 7.62 x 51mm armor machine gun
5.56 Special Purpose Weapon (SPW) - a light weight machine gun
FN FAL automatic rifle - manufactured under licensed production agreements in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Israel, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Venezuela
P90 submachine gun
FiveseveN pistol - FN's latest design of a semi-automatic pistol
5.7x28mm ammunition
Sales/Proposed Sales
In both 1999 and 1998, FN Manufacturing of South Carolina received approximately $32 million in contracts from the US Department of Defense for the purchase of M249s, M60s and M16s. As well, FN Herstal's 5.56 Special Purpose weapon has been selected by the US Special Operations Command as their new light weight machine gun. The US ordered 425 of the weapons with a potential for up to 2,500.

Through years of US arms sales and military aid, the M16 rifle has ended up in the arsenals of more than 50 countries, including Cambodia, Guatemala, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, Sri Lanka, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The M16 has also been produced in Singapore, South Korea, and the Philippines.

In addition to FN Herstal's facilities in Europe, North America, and Asia, FN assault rifles are manufactured under license in Indonesia. While the US has a long history of supplying weapons to the Indonesian military, reports from the scene have documented the use of M16 rifles by the anti-independence death squads (set up by the Indonesian military) against the people of East Timor. FN Herstal also assisted in building Eldoret, an ammunition factory in Kenya. The factory produces 20 million 7.62 NATO-standard rounds of ammunition a year which is used throughout war-torn Central Africa and the Great Lakes region.

Furthermore, the Belgian government was recently in the middle of controversy over the shipment of 500 P-90 machine guns and 500,000 rounds of ammunition destined for a private firm in Mexico. The P-90 was designed for the use of NATO military forces, governments and law enforcement and, because of its 'lethality', the Belgian government made assurances that it would never be exported to any private institutions or companies. IANSA reported that the "super weapons" have the ability to penetrate 48 layers of the anti-ballistic material used in bullet-proof vests, weigh only three kilograms when loaded, and can store up to 50 bullets. To date, the Belgian Foreign Minister has temporarily suspended the transfer, but has defended the sale saying that the P-90s were actually destined for the Mexican police. The end user certificate, however, did not mention the police, only the private company which is a representative of FN in Mexico.