CAVIM ''(Compañía Anónima Venezolana de Industrias Militares or Venezuelan Company of Military Industries in English)'' is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n state-owned firearms manufacturer, which was created by Presidential Decree No. 883 of the then Venezuela President

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as ''Venezuelan Spanish#Some examples of Spanish words common in Venezuela.2C including some native Venezuelanisms .28slang.29, El ...

on 29 April 1975. CAVIM is run by Venezuelan Ministry of People's Power for Defense and its products are used by the

National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela The Bolivarian National Armed Forces ( - FANB) of Venezuela are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President of Venezuela, President) and the Ministry of Defense (Venezuela), Minister of Defense. In addition to the Venezuelan Army, army, ...

. It's based in Caracas.

History

Firearms

CAVIM manufactured the Zamorana in 2006, which is Venezuela's first indigenous small arm. This was made with some parts from the Czech Republic. The

AK-103 The AK-103 is an assault rifle designed by Russian small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. History The AK-103 was officially offered for export on March 13, 1993. Design details It is an AK-100 derivative of the AK-74M that is chambered ...

was also licensed to CAVIM for manufacturing in Venezuela with initial licensing fee payments made in 2006 and the transfer of Russian-made AK-103s to Venezuela in 2008. CAVIM's AK-103 factories opened officially in 2012 without the necessary manufacturing equipment. CAVIM-made AK-103s were delivered to the Venezuelan Army in 2013. Due to trouble with the plant with the Russian contractor failing to meet deadlines with a case of fraud, which forced CAVIM to finish the rest of the construction, full-scale production was initially stated to start in 2019, however, no progress on the project has been officially stated. In 2016, CAVIM unveiled the M66 Hunter commando mortar for the Venezuelan Marine Corp.

UAVs

CAVIM unveiled the Arpia, a licensed version of the Qods Mohajer in 2012, although it was first shown restricted to VIPs in November 2011 at the El Libertador Air Base after Iran and Venezuela signed an agreement to purchase the Mojader in 2007.

References

External links

* {{authority control manufacturing companies based in Caracas Defence companies of Venezuela Government-owned companies of Venezuela Manufacturing companies established in 1975 Venezuelan companies established in 1975