[2] It was designed by Eugene Stoner in 1959 and unlike the AR-15, it was not intended for domestic use by the US Army; it was instead marketed towards emerging nations with a limited industrial base.

In a marketing ploy, ArmaLite also emphasized that the machine tools used to produce the gun could be re-purposed for agricultural and office purposes.

There was very little interest in the design, as most NATO member states were in the process of adopting the 5.56×45mm cartridge, and countries that were still using 7.62×51mm were largely satisfied with the FN FAL.

Plans were made for several variants of the standard AR-16, including a 9mm submachine gun and a civilian sporting rifle.

In order to facilitate for ease of production, the design of the rifle was kept relatively simple and it was made from inexpensive sheet metal pressings.