FN Herstal lays off workers amidst fears of declining sales
FN Herstal (Belgium) has laid off fifty workers with more layoffs rumored. RTBF.be reports (translated using Google) …
After the announcement of a fifty departures among contractors, staff representatives believe that a hundred or divestitures are now scheduled, a threat that weigh on so all the workers engaged in duration, often young. However, the NF is characterized by a lopsided pyramid. And the unions have insisted for several years about the need to ensure the renewal of the workforce. Does management have a plan in the medium term?
RTLInfo.be reports rumors (also translated using Google) that FN lost out on a 100 million euro contract to supply arms to Libya …
FN Herstal did not confirm the information released Wednesday by La Libre Belgique that a contract of 100 million euros have been spent by Libya with Russia rather than Belgium.
2010 has not been a good year for FN Herstal. These rumors follow USSOCOM abandoning the SCAR mk. 16 rifle (still denied on FN Herstal’s homepage, despite being confirmed by their US subsidiary FNH-USA).
[ Many thanks to Famas for emailing me the infomation. ]
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Well... Considering FN also has a large manufactuing facility in Columbia, SC, as well as an office that coordinates with DOD in Virginia, the "Mother Ship" (FN-Herstal) having trouble will inevitably trickle misfortune over here, too.
The fact that FN's M-16 contract expired at roughly the same time Colt out-bid the M-240B contract, isn't helping the stateside economy either. This maneuver managed to land roughly 700 people in the unemployment line. That product was the FN's bread and butter.
Colt, a smaller unionized labor force, managed to underbid FN to the point the new M-240B will probably be held together by duct-tape and bubble-gum. The M-240B has been made by FN for decades. (Originally designated the FN MAG-58.) The fact that FN has consistently produced an extremely reliable medium machine gun, only to have the government pass the torch to Colt (who has ~never~ made it before) attempt to produce something of the same quality in the name of saving a few bucks? A soldier's life vs. a few bucks... Which is more important?
However, the 'word on the street' is that Colt is choking on their first delivery... Not to go into detail, but I will say that it has to deal with ~reliability~ issues... Shocking.
This is where I say, "Hey! Joe Wilson! You're a senator for SC... You're also on the Senate Arms Committee... Can you please just ~act~ like you care about this issue?"
Serves them right.
Q: Guess how many semi-auto "civilian" rifles they have sold in Europe ?
-Hint : It's a very round number.
A: 0
Q: Guess how many semi-auto "civilian" rifles could have sold in Europe ?
A: F**k lot more than 50 people can manufacture in a year.
I have here $5000 I could like to give to FN (in exchange for SCAR 17s) but it seem they do not want my money.
-Strange business model.