FARA 83

The FARA 83 was born from Argentina's post-Falklands War determination to modernize its military with domestically produced weapons, reducing dependence on foreign suppliers who had imposed arms embargoes during the conflict. Designed by Ing. Enrique Chichizola - an Argentine engineer, not to be confused with the Italian Beretta family - the rifle represented a significant achievement in Latin American small arms design. However, Argentina's crushing economic crisis of the 1980s, including hyperinflation that would eventually reach 3,000% annually, killed the program before it could reach full production. Today, surviving FARA 83 rifles are prized collector's items, with most of the approximately 1,200 produced still in Argentine military storage.

Development of the FARA 83 began in 1975 under the classified program 'Proyecto Codigo 10.0187', with the first prototype completed in mid-1979 as the FAA 81 (Fusil Automatico Argentino). The design drew influences from the FN FAL and Israeli Galil, incorporating an HK-style charging handle and a synthetic folding stock with an internal compartment for cleaning tools. The barrel features six right-hand grooves with a 1:9 inch (229mm) twist rate, optimized for both M193 (55-grain) and SS109/M855 (62-grain) ammunition. Initially the rifle used proprietary steel magazines, but STANAG compatibility was planned for later production. An optional folding bipod weighing 400g was available. Approximately 50 pre-production examples were built during 1982-1983, followed by roughly 1,143 additional rifles before budget cuts halted manufacturing in 1986. The Argentine Army ultimately retained its FN FAL variants in 7.62mm NATO. Later stock iterations replaced the synthetic folding design with PARA-FAL metal tubular stocks fitted with plastic cheek rests.