Fábrica de Braço de Prata

In 1947, Portugal received aid from the Marshall Plan, being 2.730 million dollars invested in FMBP to expand the factory's Ammunition Section to two production lines, one for artillery and another for mortars.

[1][2] At the beginning of the 1960s, and at the start of the Ultramar conflict, Portugal acquired a relatively small number of assault rifles comprising 2,825 Heckler & Koch G3 and 4,795 FN FAL.

After operational field trials in Angola, the HK G3 was selected to equip the Portuguese Armed Forces as the new service rifle.

[1] Following national economical problems, the public defense industry underwent a new reorganization and a new company, INDEP, was created to incorporate the assets of both FNMAL and FMBP, which were to be extinguished in their current forms.

The first was a license-built Heckler & Koch MP5 but its small serial production was abandoned after INDEP selected the manufacturing of the Lusa submachine gun design developed in the early 1980s.

The Lusa was then distributed for evaluation to the Portuguese Armed Forces and some law enforcement agencies, however these decided to purchase the MP5 directly from Heckler & Koch.

[1] Following the reduction of domestic armament orders and the closing of numerous national armament factories and further major reorganizations of the government-owned defense industry, FBP was closed in 1998 and its machinery, tools and manufacturing rights were sold to companies in the United States and the Spanish Santa Bárbara Sistemas companies, including the 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition manufacturing line.

The Fábrica de Braço de Prata building was part of a military factory that now is a cultural centre.
A Portuguese version of the German Heckler & Koch G3A3 was used as the standard infantry weapon for most of Portugal's forces during the Portuguese Colonial War . It would be produced in large quantities in the Fábrica do Braço de Prata small arms plant.