FN Herstal


Fabrique National Herstal, self-identified as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique National or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer located in Herstal, Belgium, owned by the holding company Herstal Group which is in turn owned by the regional government of Wallonia. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe.
Herstal Group also owns U.S. Repeating Arms Company and Browning Arms Company. FN America is the American subsidiary of FN Herstal; FN America was formed by the merger of FN's previous two American subsidiaries: FN Manufacturing and FNH USA.A United Kingdom based manufacturing facility FNH UK is now also in operation.
Firearms designed and/or manufactured by FN include the Browning Hi-Power and Five-seven pistols, the FAL, FNC, F2000 and SCAR rifles, the P90 submachine gun, the M2 Browning, MAG and Minimi machine guns: all have been commercially successful. FN Herstal's firearms are used by the militaries of over 100 countries.

History

FN Herstal originated in the small city of Herstal, near Liège. The Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre was established in 1889 to manufacture 150,000 Mauser Model 89 rifles ordered by the Belgian Government. FN was co-founded by the major arms makers of the Liège region, with Henri Pieper of Anciens Etablissements Pieper being the driving force and the primary shareholder of the new company. In 1897, the company entered into a long-lasting relationship with John Moses Browning, a well-known American firearms designer. FN was an important manufacturer of motor vehicles in Belgium, a development championed by Alexandre Galopin as managing director. Cars were produced in Herstal in the early 1900s until 1935. Production of FN motorcycles continued until 1965, and production of trucks until 1970. In 1973, FN changed its name to reflect a product line diversified far beyond just "weapons of war", adopting the current name of Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal.
One of Fabrique Nationale's handguns, a Model 1910 semi-automatic pistol in 9×17mm was one of four weapons that were taken from the assassins of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, although it is unknown which of the four weapons fired the fatal round.
Browning began development of the GP35 "High Power" pistol, the GP standing for Grande Puissance, which is well-known as the Browning Hi-Power. The weapon was finalized by FN's Dieudonné Saive and did not appear until 1935, nearly a decade after Browning's death; it remained in production until 2017.
The FN Manufacturing LLC plant in Columbia, South Carolina, is part of the military division of FN. It is primarily responsible for the production of U.S. military weapons, such as M16 rifles, M249 light machine guns, M240 machine guns, and M2 machine guns.

Weapons

Handguns