Local firearms manufacturer Armscor Global Defense Inc. (AGDI) on Tuesday announced its new line of firearms products intended to target the billion-peso government contracts market in the Philippines.
AGDI vice president for business development Daniel Tuason said they have been consulting with former law enforcement and military personnel to develop the Rock Island Armory (RIA) defense brand line.
“Predominantly most of the firearms and ammunition manufacturers from abroad, they develop their weapons with their law enforcement and military counterparts,” Tuazon said in a press conference at their manufacturing facility in Marikina.
“For the most part, it means that they’re trying to solve the problems of the West, and many of those issues, such as environmental, physical stature, budgetary constraints, these are different in every country,” he said further.
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The new brand line includes the RD4P Cobra, a short-stroke gas piston rifle that can shoot while and after being submerged in water, and the RD1 multi-caliber pistol platform that can fire 9-millimeter rounds or 22 TCM (Tuason craig micro magnum) armor-piercing rounds through the use of a conversion kit.
Tuason said that the local military and law enforcement market is worth at least hundred of millions of pesos annually based on their two previous government contracts.
But he also noted that there are also billions worth of contracts that can sustain a company like theirs for years.
Meanwhile, AGDI president and chief executive officer Martin Tuason said their Marikina facility can produce 200,000 to 250,000 units annually and about 700 million rounds a year.
“So, we can actually allocate whatever amount needed for the Philippine Armed Forces or the (Philippine National Police) or the Philippine (Coast Guard),” he said during the same press conference.
Tuason added that they also have a vibrant market in the United States and that they export over 150,000 firearms a year to the western country.
“On good years, we’ve even exported 250,000, depending on the market demand,” he said.
He added that they reinvest 80 percent of their profit back into the company so that they can modernize and come out with the best products in the market.
The AGDI executive said they also provide jobs to at around 1,700 people at their facility in Marikina.