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Philippines Arms Industry

The Philippines has only a very modest domestic arms industry. Several companies manufacture small arms, mortars, other weapons and ammunition for these weapons, other munitions and tactical radios.

Armscorp [Arms Corporation of the Philippines] claims to be the largest arms and ammunition manufacturer in SouthEast Asia. Armscor is in over 60 countries and received their ISO 9001 certification in 1997. One of the original Marcos-era SRDP companies, it is engaged in weapons and ammunition manufacture. While selling to the PNP, and to some extent the AFP, its principal market is the civilian gun market, in the Philippines and abroad. In ASEAN, Armscor is the biggest supplier of ammunition for the Royal Thai Army, Royal Thai Navy and Royal Thai Police.

In 1905, two Englishmen named Roy Squires and William Bingham put up a photo print shop and merchandising firm in the Philippines. The company established was called Squires, Bingham & Co. Squires and Bingham eventually expanded their business to general trading; importing and retailing motorcycles and sporting goods - including firearms and ammunition. By the 1930's, Squires Bingham Co. had become popularly associated with sporting guns. In 1941, the store - referred to as the "Sportsmen's Headquarters" - found a new owner in Celso S. Tuason, making it a wholly Filipino owned enterprise. After the war, due to foreign exchange controls, Don Celso Tuason decided to venture into manufacturing firearms and ammunition. In 1980, Squires Bingham Co., Inc. became the holding company of the Celso S. Tuason family and their varied business interests. Thus, Arms Corporation of the Philippines (Armscor), the manufacturing company for firearms and ammunition, was born.

Filipinas Fabricator Sales, Inc. has teamed with Colorado Shipyard to win a bid to manufacture assault watercraft for the Philippine Army riverine battalion. In the mid-1990s, the company partnered with Hatch & Kirk, Inc. to replace the aging power plants of several World War II-era Philippine Navy boats, giving these boats a new lease on life. Its bread-and-butter, however, does not appear to be with the AFP, and is instead in other ventures to include marine power generation.

Floro International Corporation is the marketing, manufacturing, and administrative center for the floro group of companies. floro is an ISO 9000 certified company with production operations at its 500,000 square feet industrial park in Tanay, Rizal, Philippines. Floro is a leader in the field of microfilming, indexing, and scanning. Floro has been in the document conversion business for more than 30 years, making it one of the most experienced Filipino companies involved in the long term preservation of records. They have gained some renown in the Philippines for the various upgrades to defense equipment which they market to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Navy, Philippine Marine Corps, and the Philippine National Police.

Military & Defense products include M4A1 5.56mm Rifle; M4A1 Model-C 5.56mm Rifle; M4A1 5.56mm Rifle with FIC 40mm M203 Grenade Launcher; M203 grenade launcher; 40mm High Velocity Single Shot Grenade Launcher; 105mm Pack Howitzer Upgrade; 105mm Pack Howitzer Spare Parts; Garand Conversion; AGL V150 Turret Upgrade; 5.56mm Personal Defense Weapon; 9mm Pistol Viper; 45cal Pistol-Federal; Floro MK-9 Submachinegun; Noise Suppressor; M16 20/30 Round Aluminum Magazines; CIS 40 AGL Ammunition; Claymore Mine; Tear Gas & Smoke; 5.56mm Extended Range Ammo. The installation of the floro Upgrade Kit on the 105mm/14 Mod.56 Pack OM Howitzer enables the opening of the breech automatically after each firing. The expended cartridge case is ejected automatically, leaving the chamber ready to receive the next round.

The Government Arsenal (GA) designs and manufactures small arms, mortars, other weapons and ammunition for these weapons, and other munitions for use of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Republic Act No. 1884 (June 22, 1957) created the Government Arsenal (GA), a line bureau under the Department of National Defense. Executive Order No. 303 (March 29, 2004) mandated the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and other law enforcement agencies to source their small arms ammunition and other munitions from the Government Arsenal.

Steelcraft Industrial & Development Corporation is engaged in the export of quality used metalworking, fabrication and machining machinery with more than 40 years experience in the used machinery industry. The company is located in Manila, Philippines conveniently located 45mins from Manila International Airport. The 2-1/2 ton 2 wheel M105A1 trailers are designed to be towed by almost all types of pick-ups equipped with a towing pintle and a corresponding tire size. These trailers are designed to be towed over unimproved roads with a load of 3,000 lbs at a speed of 55 to 85KPH.

Despite over two decades of lack of success, Steelcraft has been trying to sell armored fighting vehicles to the AFP since the mid-1980s. It has yet to succeed for various reasons (e.g., design shortcomings, procedural issues, etc.). In the 1980 it worked on the Hari-Digma, which was followed in the 1990s by the Hari-Digma 2, said to be "like a bank armored car but with a weapons platform for military officials". Steelcraft was the Filipino company that made the prototype of the MX-1 Kalakian, another armored vehicle named after the male water buffalo. This never rolled into production. The project was the brainchild of Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino. This was followed by the MX-7 Gagamba, and by 2005 the MX-8 AEV Barako.

The Veterans Electronic Communications, Inc. (VETRONIX) was organized in 1974 to manufacture tactical radios for the Arm Forces of the Philippines under the AFP-Self Reliant Defense Posture Program. VETRONIX has also ventured into the commercial market by installing the first Cellular System for PILTEL under the guidance of AT&T. Since then it had contracted the system installation of the Public Calling Office for the Municipal Telephone Project Office under CANAC and Philips TRT. In 1991, it contracted the installation of the cellular system for Globe Telecom under the NOKIA and Broadcast Communication Limited. Due to some reasons beyond control of the employees, VETRONIX has decided to suspend its operations and retired all its employees in September 1998. In order to expand the operation of MSI and attain its objective, it hired the retired personnel composed of technical personnel involved and trained in the manufacturing, research and development and operation. While MSI started to operate in 1997, it also carries the experience and the expertise of VETRONIX considering that those hired personnel have stayed with that company for more than twenty (20) years.