IMBEL

IMBEL is an acronym for Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil (Brazilian War Material Industry) a Brazilian state company, founded in 1975 as a quango of the Ministry of Defence.

Its missions are to cooperate in the planning and production of war material through the transfer of technology, encouraging the creation of new industries and provide financial and technical assistance to them; administer their own industrial and commercial park of war material, and promote development for other activities related to their goals.

History

IMBEL was founded on July 16, 1934, in the city of Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The original factory was designated Fábrica de Canos e Sabres para Armas Portáteis (Barrels and Sabres Factory for Portable Arms) and later as Fabrica de Itajubá (FI) which directly involved the Brazilian Army in the production of military material.

On July 14, 1975 the Law no. 6227 created Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil - IMBEL, linked to the Ministry of the Army and with defined policies to promote based on private initiative, deployment and development of the war material industry of interest to the Army. Later the concept and policies were expanded to promote the military material industry in Brazil.

MD1

Ministry of Defence 1 (MD1), also known as "Churchill's Toyshop", was a British weapon research and development organisation of the Second World War.

Its two key figures were Major Millis Jefferis and Stuart Macrae, former editor of Armchair Science magazine.

History

MD1 began in the "Military Intelligence Research" (MIR). The MIR was a department of the War Office set up in 1939 under Lt-Col Joe Holland RE. Holland was the General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) and brought in Jefferis, also a sapper (RE), an explosives expert, with experience in India, as GSO2 to head MIR(c) a division of MIR that was to develop weapons for irregular warfare. Needing special magnets, Jefferis brought in Macrae initially as an outside contractor but later to be brought into uniform and serve as his deputy. Between them they produced the limpet mine, a timed explosive that could be stuck to the underside of a ship.

MIR(c) started in a room at the War Office, Macrae initially secured offices and workshop space at IBC, owners of Radio Normandie, in London. Macrae soon also secured all the staff, including Norman Angier who continued as Assistant Director and senior civilian throughout the war. Following an air raid, a large country house "The Firs", (fortunately the second home of a patriotic Major) was requisitioned and the design and workshops relocated there, in Whitchurch near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire close to the Prime Minister at Chequers. There they developed and to some extent produced munitions.

9×19mm Parabellum

The 9×19 mm Parabellum (abbreviated 9 mm, 9 mmP, 9×19 mm or 9×19) cartridge was designed by Georg Luger and introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) for their Luger semi-automatic pistol. For this reason, it is designated as the 9 mm Luger / 9 mm Luger +P by the SAAMI and the 9 mm Luger by the C.I.P. (differentiating it from the 9 mm Makarov and 9 mm Browning cartridges). Under STANAG 4090, it is a standard cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries.

The name Parabellum is derived from the Latin: Si vis pacem, para bellum ("If you seek peace, prepare for war"), which was the motto of DWM.

According to the 2006 edition of Cartridges of the World, the 9×19 mm Parabellum is "the world's most popular and widely used military handgun cartridge." In addition to being used by over 60% of police in the U.S., Newsweek credits 9×19 mm Parabellum pistol sales with making semiautomatic pistols more popular than revolvers. The popularity of this cartridge can be attributed to the widely held conviction that it is effective in police and self-defense use. Its low cost and wide availability contribute to the caliber's continuing popularity.