Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne

One of the French state arsenals, working at Saint-Étienne since 1764 and the source of most French service rifles of the twentieth century — the MAS-36, the MAS-49 and finally the bullpup adopted in 1978. Its abbreviation is part of those designations rather than a company name attached to them. It was folded into the state defence conglomerate GIAT Industries in 2001, and small-arms production at Saint-Étienne ended with it.