ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954. ArmaLite was responsible for small arm designs that evolved into many of the infantry weapons in service worldwide today, including the M16 assault rifles and the M4 carbine. The original ArmaLite severed re...
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ArmaLite is the name of a small arms engineering facility founded in the early 1950s, and once associated with the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. ArmaLite was formally incorporated as a subdivision of Fairchild on October 1, 1954. ArmaLite was responsible for small arm designs that evolved into many of the infantry weapons in service worldwide today, including the M16 assault rifles and the M4 carbine. The original ArmaLite severed relations with Fairchild in 1962, and ceased all operations in the early 1980s.
ArmaLite's successor, ArmaLite, Inc. is currently located in Geneseo, Illinois.
ArmaLite began as a small arms engineering concern founded by George Sullivan, the patent counsel for Lockheed Corporation, and funded by Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. After leasing a small machine shop at 6567 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood, California, Sullivan hired several employees and began work on a prototype for a lightweight survival rifle for use by downed...
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