The FAMAS is a bullpup-styled assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS
located in Saint-Étienne, which is now a member of the French government-owned Nexter
group. It is the service rifle of the French military.
History The first French bullpup rifles were developed
between 1946 and 1950 at the AME and MAS, testing rounds such as .30 US Carbine, 7.92x33mm
Kurz, 7.65x38mm and some other intermediate calibers. Since France was engaged in the
First Indochina War at the time, and was also the second-largest contributor to NATO, the
budgets for new types of weapons were reduced and priority was given to the modernization
and production of existing service weapons. Nevertheless, approximately forty different
prototypes were developed between 1952 and 1962, most of which were designed for the
7.62x51mm NATO round notably the FA-MAS Type 62. However the round was not found to be
suitable for any bullpup designs, and consequently, none were adopted, and the ideas were set
aside. MAS then began to manufacture under licence the H&K G3 and the H&K 33 in the 1960s
and studies were reactivated to produce a weapon using the new .223/5.56mm round. But
the idea to develop and use German weapons was out of question for many members of the
French high command. General Marcel Bigeard, against the idea of using German weapons,
visited the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne and asked the engineers to present him the
different prototypes developed. He then chose, amongst different prototypes, what would become
the FAMAS. The FAMAS project began in 1967 under the
direction of Paul Tellie and the first prototype was completed in 1971, with French military
evaluation of the rifle beginning in 1972. When production problems delayed the general
issue of the new rifles, and with the 1978 Battle of Kolwezi showing the immediate need
for a more modern weapon, the French Army began searching for a temporary rifle to fill
this need until the FAMAS came into full production. The H&K 33 was considered, and a batch of
1,200 examples were tested by Infantry, Airborne, Marines, Mechanised and Foreign troops, but
it was ultimately turned down in favour of the SIG SG 540, built under licence by Manurhin,
until enough FAMAS rifles were produced to begin general issue. The French military finally
accepted the rifle in 1978 as the standard French combat weapon.
After adoption, the FAMAS F1 replaced the aging MAS 49/56 rifle and MAT-49 submachine
gun, and approximately 400,000 FAMAS F1 assault rifles were produced, with production now
complete. The F1 had many problems and was not completely reliable. For instance, the
plastic pieces broke easily and the weapon jammed on occasions because of the poor disposable
magazine concept. The first magazines were supposed to be disposables, but the budget
of the French army never allowed it. The F1 was followed by the G1 that included several
minor improvements such as redesigned grips, and an enlarged trigger guard for utilisation
with gloves, but it remained conceptual and was never actually produced.
FAMAS G2 The FAMAS G2 was developed c. 1994 to bring
the rifle more in compliance with NATO standards by having tighter rifling and accepting standard
NATO magazines, but also included several other upgrades taken from the G1 model, such
as the enlarged trigger guard and improved hand guards made of fiber glass, rather than
plastics like on the F1. The French Navy purchased the FAMAS G2 in 1995, and issued it to their
Fusiliers Marins and Commandos Marine. The French Army has however held off large scale
purchase of the G2 to date, and the FAMAS F1 still remains the primary service rifle
of the Army. MAS .223
During the late 1980s, Century Arms imported a very small number of semi-automatic FAMAS'
into the United States. However due to poor sales, production and importation ceased and
the existing number are not only extremely rare but cost in the range of $8,000 with
no spare parts available on the market. FAMAS Infanterie
The FAMAS Infanterie is an improvement of the FAMAS F1, obtained by retrofiting an accessory
rail onto the top of the handguard. This allows mounting combat optics, most notably reflex
sights or the 4x magnification SCROME J4 scope. Design details
Action
The FAMAS assault rifle is a bullpup configuration, with the ammunition feed behind the trigger.
The receiver housing is made of a special steel alloy, and the rifle furniture is made
of fiberglass. The rifle uses a lever-delayed blowback action, an action used on the AA-52
machine gun derived from the prototypes built during Army Technical Department tests having
taken place between the First and Second World Wars.
Ergonomics Fire mode is controlled by a selector within
the trigger guard, with three settings: safe, single shot, and automatic fire. Automatic
fire can be in three-shot bursts or fully automatic; this is determined by another selector,
located under the housing and behind the magazine. The FAMAS G2 weighs 3.8 kg. The G1 and G2
have a large, grip-length trigger-guard like a Steyr AUG to allow easy access to the trigger
when wearing gloves. Both F1 and G2 models of the FAMAS feature
a bipod attached to the upper hand-guard. The FAMAS-G2 and some F1 sport a "polyvalent
hand-guard" which features a standard NATO accessory rail, allowing a variety of sights
to be mounted, notably red dot sights and night vision units.
The FAMAS features two alidades for aiming rifle grenades with several modes:
direct fire at 75 or 100 metres, in anti-vehicle role
indirect fire, in anti-personnel role: with the FAMAS inclined by 45°, allowing
fire from 120 to 340 metres with the FAMAS inclined by 74°, allowing
fire from 60 to 170 metres
In indirect fire mode the grenade support is moved forwards or backwards on the barrel
which has markings. This changes the position of the grenade on the barrel and automatically
the volume of the chamber in which the gas expands to push the grenade forward. Each
position of the grenade support has a number which is multiplied by a certain fixed number
depending on the alidade position, 45° or 75°; this will accurately indicate the firing
distance of the grenade. Ammunition
The FAMAS F1 and G1, the original variants, were designed to use French-made 25-round
magazines with 5.56x45mm cartridges. Due to the 1/12 rifling of the F1 barrel and its
blowback action, ammunition must be a steel-case, French-made SS109 cartridge; using standard
brass-case 5.56x45mm NATO causes overpressure and can cause malfunction. The barrel of the
G2 uses a 1/9 rifling, which enables it to use the SS109 or the M193 interchangeably.
During training with blank ammunition, a plug is added to the muzzle of the FAMAS. This
plug is necessary for automatic or semi-automatic operation, which it allows by blocking part
of the gas. The FAMAS can use a variety of rifle grenades
up to 500 grammes. Notable examples are the antipersonal APAV40 and the antitank AC58.
It can also fire some hand grenades designed for this alternative purpose, notably the
F2 grenade that includes a bullet trap. The FAMAS can accommodate an external grenade
launcher as an add-on module under the hand guard; the US M203 grenade launcher is sometimes
used.
Service
The FAMAS first saw service in Chad during Operation Manta and again in desert operations
during Operation Desert Storm and in other various peacekeeping missions. Officially,
operational conditions proved the weapon to be reliable and trustworthy under combat conditions.
The FAMAS is affectionately known as le Clairon because of its shape by French-speaking troops.
An improved version of the FAMAS G2 is integrated in the Félin system.
Senegal and the United Arab Emirates received a small number of FAMAS F1 rifles from France,
though it was unknown when they received them. Djibouti uses this weapon in its military
as the standard infantry weapon. The Philippines also received a limited number and is used
by the Philippine National Police Special Action Force.
Users Argentina: Used by a few units of the amphibious
and tactical divers of the Argentinian navy. Djibouti
France: Used by the French Armed Forces since 1979, with over 700,000 rifles purchased.
Also used by several law enforcement agencies such as the Gendarmerie Nationale.
Free Syrian Army Fighters have acquired Famas F1 rifles.
Gabon Indonesia: Komando Pasukan Katak tactical
diver group and Komando Pasukan Khusus special forces group.
Iraq: Used by Iraqi Army. Lebanon
Papua New Guinea Philippines: Used by the Philippine National
Police and Special Action Force. Senegal
Serbia: Used by the police special forces unit PTJ, and formerly used by JSO.
Tunisia: Used by the Tunisian Presidential Guard.
United Arab Emirates Vanuatu
Future replacement The FAMAS has several design flaws. Key among
these are that its rifling cannot accurately stabilize modern rounds and its blowback operation
is so strong it can tear apart standard 5.56 NATO brass cases. This forced the French to
use non-standard steel cased ammo. In 2011, the French CEMAT announced that the French
Army would issue a RfP for a rifle to replace the FAMAS in 2013. One weapon submitted for
appraisal is the F90 assault rifle. It wasn't until May 2014 that the French Ministère
de la Défense officially launched the FAMAS replacement program. The tender notice calls
for 90,000 rifles to be acquired, half with a standard-length barrel and half with a short
barrel, and be distributed across the French Army, Navy, and Air Force. Three to five candidates
will be selected for the competition. Sources and references
External links Official Nexter FAMAS page
Buddy Hinton FAMAS Photo Collection FELIN article, with FAMAS pictured as part
of FELIN system Modern Firearms
REMTEK FAMAS
Manual Nazarian's Gun's Recognition Guide FAMAS .223
Manual