You’re proper; SIG makes weapons, S&W makes weapons, Glock makes weapons. Gun firms are typically gun firms. Effectively, weapons and horse breeding. It’s uncommon that you simply see any client firm closely concerned in a pivot into firearms. Positive, Normal Electrical makes miniguns, however they’ve had their palms in a whole lot of pies for a very long time. At this time, we’re going to have a look at non-gun firms that dipped their toes into the world of small and huge arms.
Can Non-Gun Corporations Make Good Weapons?
Texas Devices FGM-148
I largely know Texas Devices as the corporate that produces the calculator my son loses yearly. The TI calculators are well-known to each center and excessive schooler struggling by way of math class. They’re nearly as non-gun as you may get. In accordance with a fast Bing search, they’re a semiconductor firm. In addition they produce the tank-eliminating Javelin missile system, or, nicely, that they had a hand in designing it.
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The FGM-148 is likely one of the most superior anti-tank weapons ever produced. One soldier can destroy an armored car with the press of a button. The guided missile system can do direct influence, however it might additionally hearth from a top-attack mode to hit a much less armored part of the tank. With a max vary of two,500 meters, the soldier firing the weapon might be hidden and comparatively protected.
The 127mm fire-and-forget missile makes use of a non-disposable command launch unit, or what we affectionately known as the CLU within the Marine Corps. This spectacular piece of equipment is fielded by the U.S. Army, and it destroyed quite a few armored autos within the Second Iraq Battle. Russia additionally acquired a style of the Javelin system by the hands of Ukrainian troopers.
Rolls-Royce Plane Weapons
Rolls-Royce is primarily generally known as a luxurious automotive producer. They produce automobiles just like the Spectre, which begins at $397,000 for the bottom mannequin. Yep, you learn that proper, base mannequin. They’ve a protracted historical past of luxurious automobiles and a good historical past of constructing plane engines. They’re additionally a non-gun firm that labored hand-in-hand with the British army to supply weapons for plane.
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Lengthy earlier than America constructed the A-10 round a gun, Rolls-Royce designed a 40mm cannon. This was in 1938, and the gun was envisioned to be highly effective sufficient to deliver down bombers and to destroy tanks from the air. It was by no means fielded on planes, however in 194,0 the Brits strapped a couple of to motor gunboats, the place they served as anti-aircraft weapons.
Talking of World Battle II, the Brits wanted heavy machine weapons for his or her plane. They wished the Browning M2, however America didn’t have any to spare. Rolls-Royce took a break from designing automobiles that value greater than homes and commenced creating a recoil-operated .50 BMG gun. When that didn’t work, they produced a gas-operated model, however earlier than the weapons may hit the skies, America acquired the Brits some M2s, and the venture was canceled.
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Singer M1911
We’re nonetheless in World Battle II for this entry. America’s manufacturing energy proved to be its biggest energy. World Battle II was all-encompassing, and the American individuals and American firms have been there to verify the boys abroad have been well-armed. With a scarcity of handguns, the army turned to non-gun firms with manufacturing functionality.
This included Singer. Singer, the corporate largely recognized for producing your mother’s stitching machine, acquired in on the weapons manufacturing sport. They produced M1911 pistols for the US. Singer wasn’t a weapons firm, however they put their greatest foot ahead. Singer solely produced 500 M1911s for World Battle II.
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The five hundred pistols have been a part of a trial run, so to talk. They delivered the pistols in 1940, and the Ordnance Division by no means positioned one other order. It wasn’t for lack of high quality both; the pistols have been tremendous and constructed to snuff. They’ve since develop into a number of the rarest and most precious M1911 pistols on the earth.
IBM M1 Carbines
Alright, so yet another World Battle II entry. IBM, or Worldwide Enterprise Machines, is named a pc firm. That simplifies it, since they’re an enormous multinational expertise firm that’s current in over 175 international locations. Their origin traces again to 1911, and since then, they’ve been cutting-edge.
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In World Battle II, they have been producing varied technological marvels, and a few have been utilized by Nazi Germany. In addition they produced 6% of the M1 Carbines utilized in World Battle II, which was about 350,000 weapons. How IBM switched from producing computer systems to M1 Carbines is past me, however good individuals make do.
IBM was the final contractor to get into producing M1 Carbines, and it solely took them a month to begin producing rifles. They launched new strategies that sped up manufacturing, together with a brand new rifling process that made barrel manufacturing a lot quicker. All matching IBM M1 Carbines fetch a fantastic worth today.
Ford XM234
Ford, primarily recognized for America’s favourite truck, the F-150, had their palms in a whole lot of pots. They sought numerous army contracts of their time, largely for autos. Ford had an Aerospace division and was a part of Ford-Philco, an organization recognized for batteries, radios, televisions, and extra. In 1966, Ford purchased Philco, and it turned Ford-Philco.
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Ford-Philco is a non-gun firm that determined to get into the gun business within the Nineteen Seventies. The U.S. Military was conducting a program to arm rifle squads with a light-weight machine gun. The SAW program ended with the adoption of the FN Minimi, however Ford-Philco’s XM234 was a contender.
We all know almost nothing concerning the gun. It was a belt-fed, 6mm SAW machine gun. It held its rounds in a removable drum, and that’s about it. No weight, no recognized working system I can discover, however we all know it existed, and we all know the M249 gained the competitors total.
Non-Gun Corporations Generally Make Weapons
Think about a world the place IBM remained within the arms sport and so they have been producing M4 carbines, or a world the place Ford’s XM234 turned the M234 and served for many years with army forces. What if Singer was a customized home like Ed Brown? It’d be a bizarre world, however we weren’t all that removed from it.
