Driving leading brands

The FN Browning Group is a global company that supplies world-leading brands: FN, Browning, Winchester* and Noptel, whose products and services have always been renowned for their innovation and dependability.

The Group organises its activities into two main divisions.
The Defence and Security Division includes small arms, ammunition, integrated weapon systems, high-tech equipment and services marketed worldwide under the FN brand.
The Hunting and Sport Shooting Division includes all small arms and equipment marketed worldwide under the Browning and Winchester* brand.

Through its subsidiary Noptel and the FNX investment fund, the Group is also active in areas unrelated to small arms, notably optoelectronics.

*Winchester is a registered trademark of Olin Corporation.

Driving innovation

Innovation has always been at the heart of the FN Browning Group’s DNA. Its main objective is to anticipate its customers’ needs by offering them state-of-the-art, relevant and reliable solutions.

To achieve this, the FN Browning Group devotes a significant proportion of its turnover to R&D. Its Defence and Security Division, for example, invests around 10% of its revenues in R&D. It is this unwavering commitment to innovation that has made
the FN Browning Group brands the world leaders they are today, and their products a source of inspiration in their respective fields.

The R&D departments of the Group are supported by more than 200 talented people who combine cutting-edge expertise, and a passion for technology and innovation.

Picture : A deFNder® station installed on an UGV developed by the Franco-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis.

Industrial excellence

From the outset, the FN Browning Group has been an industrial company that combines human, technical and technological excellence. The exceptional expertise of the men and women who work in the industrial units, the mastery of the manufacturing processes and the control of the value chain are the basis for the exceptional dependability of the Group’s branded products.

The industrial units in Belgium, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Finland and the United States are all certified to high quality standards, including Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program), ISO 9001 and EN/AS 9100.

The Group’s industrial resilience is based on a high degree of control over its value chain, which combines extensive in-house integration of key skills with a network of highly reliable local partners.

The Group has considerable in-house expertise, with its industrial units having integrated and continually improved a wide range of skills over its 135-year history. These include high-precision mechanics with skills in machining, materials knowledge, metallurgical and chemical treatments, and barrel and gunsmithing. In addition to mechanics, the Group has extensive expertise in pyrotechnics for ammunition and electronics for high-tech equipment.

FN

The Defence and Security Division comprises all FN Browning Group products and services marketed worldwide under the FN brand. These are currently in service with most of the armies, law enforcement agencies and special forces of European and NATO countries and their close allies around the world.

The division consists of FN Herstal and its subsidiaries. The US subsidiary was established in 1977 to produce most of the small arms for the Department of Defense locally in compliance with the Buy American Act. The Finnish and UK subsidiaries were acquired in 2011 and 2014 respectively.
FN Herstal also has a liaison office in Singapore to provide close support to its customers in Asia.

Headquartered in Belgium, FN Herstal manages the Division’s worldwide activities, with the exception of the US and UK markets for portable firearms. FN Herstal has been manufacturing small arms and weapon systems at its historic site in Herstal since 1889 and ammunition at its plant in Zutendaal since 1938.

Find out more

FN America manages the Group’s US activities in the military, law enforcement and civilian markets. The company has been present in the country with industrial facilities in South Carolina since 1981, and with offices in Virginia since 1998.

Find out more

FN UK is the UK’s sole manufacturer of military small arms. Formerly known as Manroy, it supplies the UK Ministry of Defence and law enforcement agencies, as well as providing industrial support to FN Herstal and FN America.

Find out more

Based in Finland, Noptel develops optoelectronic solutions. In addition to its own products, it designs and develops high-tech equipment under the FN brand, including advanced ballistic and sighting devices from the FN® e-novation product range.

Find out more

BROWNING & WINCHESTER

The Hunting and Sport Shooting Division includes all FN Browning Group products marketed worldwide under the Browning and Winchester* brands. While the Browning brand has been wholly owned by the Group since 1977, the Winchester* brand is owned by Olin Corporation, for which the Group holds a licence to design, manufacture and market products.

The division’s subsidiaries include the wholly-owned companies Browning North America, Browning International and Browning Viana, as well as the listed company Miroku, in which the Group holds an interest.

Browning North America, based in Morgan, Utah, manages the division’s activities in the United States and Canada. It markets all Browning products and Winchester* firearms (excl. ammunition) in North America. The company also has a logistics centre in Arnold, Missouri.

Find out more

Browning North America holds the Group’s 13.27% interest in the Japanese company Miroku, based in Nankoku, Kōchi Prefecture. Founded in 1893, Miroku has been manufacturing Browning firearms since the 1960s.

Find out more

Browning International is headquartered in Herstal, Belgium, with subsidiaries in France and the UK. It markets the Browning, Winchester* (incl. ammunition) and Miroku brands outside North America, as well as Kite Optics and FN Herstal pistols.

Find out more

Browning Viana is located in Viana, Portugal. The company manufactures a wide range of Browning and Winchester* firearms for both Browning North America and Browning International.

Find out more

Noptel

Noptel specialises in the design and manufacture of innovative optoelectronic products using advanced technologies in the field of distance measurement.

Based in Oulu, Finland, the company designs, manufactures and markets long-range laser rangefinder modules and LineLIDAR sensors, which are used in a wide range of activities including traffic and speed control, offshore rescue, reconnaissance, border control, mining, drones, construction and urban planning.

Find out more

FNX Ventures

FNX Ventures is an investment fund dedicated to new technologies, created in 2024 by the FN Browning Group and its shareholder Wallonie Entreprendre.

With a capital of 20 million euros, FNX Ventures aims to support young innovative companies in cutting-edge fields such as cybersecurity, dual technologies and new materials.

Find out more