pistol FN Herstal originated in the small city of
Herstal, near
Liège. The ''Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre'' (French for 'National Factory of Weapons of War') was established in 1889 to manufacture 150,000
Mauser Model 89 rifles ordered by the
Belgian government. In 1973, FN changed its name to reflect a diversified product line far beyond just military
Small Arms and
Firearms manufacturing, adopting the current name of ''Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal''. One of Fabrique Nationale's handguns, a
Model 1910 semi-automatic pistol in 9×17mm (
.380 ACP) (serial number 19074), was one of four weapons that were taken from the assassins of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, although it is unknown which of the four weapons fired the fatal round. Browning began the development of the GP35 "High Power" pistol, the GP standing for
Grande Puissance (French for
high power), which is well known as the
Browning Hi-Power. The weapon was finalized by FN's
Dieudonné Saive and did not appear until 1935, nearly a decade after Browning's death; it remained in production until 2017. FN Herstal also had an aerospace engines division and became the only aircraft engine manufacturer in
Benelux. Established 1949 in
Liers, it manufactured parts, and made and assembled complete engines under licence from British, French and US companies. When four European countries, including Belgium, adopted the F-16 fighter in 1977, FN Herstal built an entirely new plant that made parts, assembled and tested the engines for these aircraft. The
FN Division Moteurs also supplied parts for the Ariane space programme. However, by 1987, FN Herstal had divested itself of these activities, which today are part of the
Safran Group. In 2023 the company posted a profit of 75 million euros on its second-highest ever revenue, of 908 million euros. On 17 February 2024 FN Herstal launched a
venture capital group named
FNX with 20 million euro capital. FN Browning Group commemorated its 135th anniversary with an exhibition in
Liège's
La Boverie museum from 25 April to 26 July 2025. ==FN America==