Through a bidding process structured to circumvent the intervention of the National Congress, the government of Javier Milei launched the privatization and foreign takeover of Fabricaciones Militares Sociedad del Estado (FMSE) , the industrial complex founded by General Manuel Savio that for more than eight decades has supplied ammunition, explosives, cannons and equipment to the Armed and Security Forces.

The maneuver, revealed by El Destape , uses the legal structure of a Temporary Union (UT) between the state-owned company (unilaterally transformed into a corporation through Decree 70/2023) and a foreign private consortium. The scheme guarantees the private partner control of at least 51% of the shares , the presidency and a majority on the Executive Committee (3 private members versus 2 state members), and the appointment of the legal representative, leaving the Argentine state as a passive partner with no veto power or decision-making authority over the fate of its own military production for a period of up to 35 years (until 2061) .

Washington filters and the veto on technological development

The technical specifications not only impose exclusionary asset barriers for the national industry (requiring net worth of up to 185 million dollars and 15 years of operational experience that only large transnational arms corporations possess), but also institutionalize a strict geopolitical alignment dictated from abroad:

The privatization encompasses the four strategic plants of the complex: Río Tercero (chemicals and heavy metalworking), Azul (explosives and projectiles), Fray Luis Beltrán (vests, light weapons and ammunition) and Villa María (gunpowder and high explosives), breaking the doctrinal and productive unity of national defense.

The scrapyard map: A multidimensional delivery

The liquidation of Fabricaciones Militares does not occur in a vacuum; it is surgically linked to the handover of all the levers of energy, river, scientific and territorial sovereignty of Argentina:

Strategic Sector

Transfer/Privatization Mechanism

Impact on National Sovereignty

Military Complex (FMSE)

Joint venture with foreign private control (minimum 51%) for 35 years and technological veto.

Dismantling of the national defense industry; total dependence on foreign war supplies.

South Atlantic and Malvina Islands

Global Commons Doctrine and Program 333 with the Southern Command; purchase of AIM-120 missiles for USD 400M.

De facto relinquishment of exclusive control of the 200 miles; NATO militarization made invisible; subordination to the 4th Fleet.

Nuclear Complex (NA-SA / CNEA)

Sale of shares in Nucleoeléctrica Argentina and privatization of the fuel cycle and projects such as the CAREM reactor.

Loss of autonomous technological leadership in nuclear energy and enrichment in Latin America.

Hydroelectric System

Concession and auction of the Comahue dams (El Chocón, Cerros Colorados, Alicurá, Piedra del Águila).

Privatization of water and baseload power generation; loss of tariff and strategic control of basins.

Main Waterway (Paraná)

International tender with clauses for intervention by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Control of foreign trade and river logistics for 80% of Argentine exports under foreign supervision.

Mineral Resources and Land

RIGI (Incentive Regime for Large Investments) without requirement of national purchase or foreign exchange settlement.

Plundering of lithium, copper and critical minerals without local added value or reserves for the national technology industry.

Planned helplessness and external subordination

The dismantling of Fabricaciones Militares fits perfectly into the picture that Agenda Malvinas has been documenting:

1.    Budgetary suffocation: The cut of more than $59 billion pesos to the Armed Forces and the loss of 80% of the real salary of military personnel (whom the Ministry of Defense authorized to work as Uber drivers or private security guards) destroys the morale and maintenance of the operational cadres.

2.    Institutional dissolution: The Ministry of Deregulation's intention to merge the Navy with the Prefecture seeks to degrade sovereign military defense to a simple coastal interdiction police force.

3.    Hemispheric subordination: The illegal entry through DNU into the Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere (JTF-WHEM) of the Southern Command and the "Donroe Doctrine" initiative reduces the country to a logistical link dependent on Washington's war priorities.

By privatizing the factory that produces the nation's munitions and explosives, the Government is not implementing a fiscal balance program: it is liquidating the material autonomy indispensable to sustain any claim of sovereignty against the British occupation of the Malvina Islands and the projection towards Antarctica.