ArmaLite

ArmaLite, or Armalite, was an American small arms engineering company, formed in the early 1950s in Hollywood, California. It ceased doing business in the 1980s, though the brand was revived in 1996, by Mark Westrom. Many of Armalite's products, as conceived by chief designer Eugene Stoner, relied on unique foam-filled fiberglass butt/stock furniture and a composite barrel using a steel liner inside an aluminum sleeve, including the iconic AR-15/M16 family. Originating as the light firearms division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation, ArmaLite was formally incorporated in 1954. Stoner's first design, the AR-1 Parasniper (dating from 1952), was relatively unsuccessful. However, in 1956, when ArmaLite competed in a contest for an aircrew survival rifle, its AR-5 and AR-7 designs were put into production and adopted by elements of the US military. In 1957, ArmaLite also competed for the contract for a new main US combat rifle, in the NATO standard 7.62×51mm NATO caliber, with its AR-10. While that bid was unsuccessful, the rifle attracted the attention of both Colt and the Dutch company Artillerie-Inrichtingen, both of which acquired licenses to manufacture the AR-10. In 1962, Fairchild relinquished its interest in ArmaLite, which continued as an independent company. The AR-15, chambered for the new, lightweight, high velocity 5.56×45mm NATO round, included features of Stoner's previous designs. Under financial pressure, ArmaLite sold the entire rights to the AR-15 design to Colt, which quickly secured significant US military and law enforcement contracts for the weapon, beginning with the USAF Security Forces (1962). A variant of the Colt product was adopted as the US Army's main combat rifle, from 1964, as the Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16. By the 1980s, it had also been adopted by the militaries of many US allies, especially within NATO countries. The M16 remained the primary combat rifle of...