Dirección General de Industria Militar

The Dirección General de Industria Militar (DGIM) is the arms-manufacturing arm of Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA). Its lineage traces to a decree issued by President Venustiano Carranza on 16 October 1916 establishing a state department to manufacture Mexico’s own weapons and ammunition, reorganised and renamed several times since: as the Dirección de Materiales de Guerra from 1936 and under its current name from 1946. Through its Fábrica de Armas it designs and builds small arms, ammunition, grenades and light armoured vehicles for the Mexican armed forces, and it developed the FX-05 Xiuhcoatl rifle after Mexico’s government decided against a planned licensed-production line for the Heckler & Koch G36.