Founded on 10 October 1927 and located in Córdoba, for most of its existence it was known as "Fábrica Militar de Aviones" (FMA) until its privatization in the 1990s to Lockheed Martin.

In the 1960s, it produced the Guarani light transport and the Pucara COIN aircraft, followed by the Pampa jet trainer in the 1980s; the last two still in service with the Argentine Air Force as of early 2016.

During the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner the factory was nationalized in August 2009, with compensation of ARS $67 million paid.

"[3][4] It was renamed after Argentine Air Force Brigadier es:Juan Ignacio San Martín a military engineer who laid the foundations of the aeronautics industry at Córdoba when he directed the Instituto Aerotécnico, the forerunner of the FMA, in the 1940s.

[5] The FMA has produced innovative aircraft prototypes, but the state of the Argentine economy has usually prevented most of them from entering large-scale production.