Our History

The Fábrica Militar de Aviones of Córdoba was the first aircraft factory in Latin America, founded on October 10, 1927 by engineer Francisco de Arteaga. It became a formidable pole of industrial development that produced, among others, the first military jet aircraft designed and manufactured in South America: the I Ae 27 Pulqui I. It later developed an exceptional fighter, the I Ae 33 Pulqui II. Throughout its history it produced aircraft under license and its own designs. The mass production of the I Ae 22 DL aircraft allowed the Fábrica Militar de Aviones (FMA) to outsource the manufacture of many of its components to private companies, thus generating the birth of more than one hundred factories and workshops, which would later come to more than three hundred. The Instituto Aerotécnico (as the Fábrica Militar de Aviones was called after 1943) oversaw the transfer of technology, providing technical advice and financial support when necessary. This laid the foundations for the metal mechanic industry that would later enable the setting up in Córdoba of the first automotive companies in Argentina (Fiat in 1954 and Industrias Kaiser Argentina -IKA- in 1955).

In 1944, after the assumption of engineer Major Juan Ignacio San Martín as director of the company, the factory took a leap that led it to employ more than nine thousand people in an industrial site that, from the creation of IAME (Industrias Aeronáuticas y Mecánicas del Estado) in 1952, not only built airplanes, engines, propellers and accessories, but also utility vehicles, automobiles, tractors and motorcycles. At the end of the 1960s, the IA-58 Pucará left the factory, an excellent national support and light attack aircraft that was exported to different countries and is currently in the process of being modernized.

In 1984, the IA-63 Pampa advanced trainer aircraft made its maiden flight. This aircraft is still in production today in a modernized version.

Between 1995 and 2009 the company was given on concession to Lockheed Martin. During this period, the company emphasis, as well as investments and resources in general, prioritized the maintenance service.

In 2009, the National State, based on a political decision, acquired the shares from the US firm Lockheed Martin and the factory was renamed Fábrica Argentina de Aviones “Brig. San Martin” SA (FAdeA).

FAdeA aims to recover and modernize the Argentine Aeronautical Industry incorporating state-of-the-art technology, generating strategic partners in the region and developing new production processes to achieve world standards of excellence.

Book "Developing the Future"

The book "Developing the Future" graphically captures the history of Fábrica Argentina de Aviones "Brig. San Martín", through its products and milestones since 1927. Illustrations were made by architect Juan Ignacio San Martín, grandson of the Brigadier.

Images of our history

I Ae 27 Pulqui I

In 1946, an unprecedented development began in South America, the project of an airplane powered by a jet engine. It was named I Ae 27 Pulqui I. Thirteen months after its manufacture began; it was ready to make its first flight, which took place on August 9, 1947. The Fábrica Argentina de Aviones (then called Instituto Aerotécnico) marked the entry of our country into the jet age, as part of /a small elite of nations in the world.