IMBEL
IMBEL (Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil) is a Brazilian state-owned arms company . The main products are explosives , ammunition , handguns and communication technology .
history
According to the law passed on July 14, 1975, IMBEL was founded in 1977 and integrated various state arsenals and factories into one company. IMBEL should also manufacture armaments that were not worthwhile for private Brazilian companies. Tax subsidies and other subsidies should make this economical. IMBEL's employees were treated like civilian employees in the Brazilian military.
As early as 1983, the company ran into financial problems because the Brazilian army cut its orders and the company was legally prohibited from selling weapons to civilian security forces. IMBEL had to borrow heavily from the state. The ammunition factory in Realengo was closed and the production material was sold to Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC).
Brazil realized early on that IMBEL was only unable to survive because of domestic demand and encouraged the company to open up further sales markets. In the 1990s, exports of military equipment for the purpose of debt reduction were accelerated. IMBEL was also given the opportunity to sell to Brazilian civil security forces. In the 2000s there was a joint venture with Royal Ordnance and Grupo Schahin as South American Ordnance to distribute heavy and light weapons and ammunition worldwide.
structure
Headquarters
IMBEL's headquarters are in Brasília at the headquarters of the army. However, part of the management is in Piquete . This fact is due to the various organizations since the foundation.
Fábrica da Estrela
Fábrica da Estrela is a factory for the manufacture of explosives and accessories. One of the main products of the factory is the explosive RDX . The factory was moved from Rio de Janeiro in 1824 under the name Real Fábrica de Póvora da Estrela by decree of Emperor Peter I to its current location in Magé .
Fábrica de Itajubá
The factory was inaugurated in 1934 under the name Fábrica de Canos e Sabers . She makes various handguns . In the 1930s, Itajubá produced rifles based on the Mauser Model 98 with a license from the Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken . The production of the Mauser rifles ended after the Second World War . In 1964 a license agreement was signed with Fabrique Nationale Herstal for the production of the FN FAL rifles. At least 200,000 of these rifles have been produced since then.
In 1960 the production of variants of the Colt M1911 self-loading pistols began. In 1985, a partnership was formed with the US company Springfield Armory, Inc. to supply the civilian market and security agencies with these pistols . In 1998, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Hostage Rescue Team introduced IMBEL pistols. A large proportion of IMBEL's small arms exports went to the United States.
Further products are the IMBEL 308 AGLC sniper rifle and the IMBEL IA2 product line for rifles and carbines .
Fábrica Presidente Vargas
The factory was founded in Piquete in 1902 at the instigation of Marshal Medeiros Mallet . The main products are nitrocellulose , trinitrotoluene , nitroglycerin , blasting gelatin , low-smoke powder and solid propellant for solid rocket engines .
Fábrica de Juiz de Fora
The foundation stone was laid on August 9, 1934 under the name Fábrica de Estojos e Espoletas de Artilharia . The factory produces ammunition for mortars , cannons and howitzers, as well as rocket engines and warheads .
Fábrica de Material de Comunicações e Eletrônica
The factory has its origins in the Fábrica de Material de Transmissões , in which gearboxes were originally manufactured and which was called Fábrica de Material de Comunicações from October 4, 1939 . There are radios and other communications equipment produced for military and public customers.
Speech Elétrica Piquete-Itajubá
The hydropower plant in Wenceslau Braz in Minas Gerais with an output of 3.4 MW was inaugurated on December 8, 1932. It supplies the energy to the factory in Itajubá. It has been feeding surpluses into the public power grid since 2012 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Pablo Dreyfus, Benjamin Lessing, Marcelo, de Sousa Nascimento, Júlio Cesar Purcena: Small Arms in Brazil: Production, Trade, and Holdings , 2010, Small Arms Survey [1] pp. 40–42
- ↑ a b c d e f g "Nossas Unidades" at imbel.gov.br
- ↑ Comparative Atlas of Defense in Latin America and Caribbean 2016, RESDAL [2] p. 124
- ↑ Colin M. MacLachlan: A History of Modern Brazil: The Past Against the Future , Rowman & Littlefield , 2003, ISBN 978-0-8420-5123-1 , p. 158 [3]
- ↑ International Cooperation on Nonproliferation Export Controls: Prospects for the 1990s and Beyond , University of Michigan Press, 1994, ISBN 978-0-472-10515-1 p. 230 [4]