China Will Build Escondido Arms Designer’s Carbine

An Escondido weapons designer announced Thursday that he has struck an agreement in which the People’s Republic of China will manufacture 10,000 semiautomatic carbines with features that he says exceed those of the popular, Israeli-made Uzi.

Robert Weaver, president of Weaver Arms of Escondido, said that production of the weapons will begin within 90 days, with delivery through 1989. The Chinese plant is capable of producing 500,000 weapons if the demand requires it, he said.

Initially, the weapons will be imported to the United States for domestic sale through the Escondido company, he said. Ultimately, he said, orders could be taken for sale of the 9-millimeter carbine to other countries--possibly including China itself--given State Department approval.

The agreement also calls for the Chinese to manufacture a counterpart weapon--a 9-millimeter, semiautomatic pistol with the same basic design and technology as the larger weapon.

Weaver, 39, said his pact with the Chinese government took three years to formulate and has received the requisite approval of the State Department, as well as the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Control to Communist Countries, representing each NATO member country except Iceland, and also Japan.

Weaver’s weapon is called a Nighthawk Carbine, a semiautomatic firearm capable of getting off 32 rounds as fast as the trigger can be squeezed before another magazine is loaded.

The weapon, constructed of aluminum and steel and with components of glass-filled nylon, weighs 6.5 pounds--about 2 pounds less than the Uzi. Yet the Nighthawk is more accurate than the Uzi.

Weaver said he already has manufactured about 1,500 Nighthawk Carbines in Escondido that were sold through gun distributors to private buyers and police departments around the United States. Weaver said he did not know which specific police agencies had purchased the gun, which sold for $525 each.

He stopped local production of the weapon about three years ago to concentrate on striking the agreement with the Chinese government, he said.

The deal calls for the Chinese to manufacture and assemble the weapon’s parts, and to then sell the finished product to Weaver Arms on a per-unit basis.

Weaver said he could not disclose the specific financial terms of the agreement or where the weapons would be manufactured in China. He said he has visited the plant, is convinced of the quality of Chinese workmanship and was attracted by the labor costs.

He said he was approached by the People’s Republic of China, Singapore and Taiwan, which bid for the right to build his weapons, and that China’s courtship won out.

Weaver, whose company now employees five workers, said he will expand his Escondido operation to become a warehouse and distribution point for the weapons.

Weaver previously owned gun stores and built the Shooters Emporium shooting range in Escondido in 1980. He sold it in 1982 when he started Weaver Arms for the research and development of new weapons, he said.

The company went public in November with the sale of 800,000 shares at $5 each, as Weaver wooed prospective investors with his proposal to formalize the Chinese pact. On Thursday, Weaver Arms shares were selling for 7 5/8 on NASDAQ.

During the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30--at a time when Weaver was concentrating on the Chinese pact and not on local manufacturing--the company showed sales of only $3,905 and a loss of $512,085, according to the firm’s 10K report.

Weaver said he hopes the company will sign a contract to supply weapons to a foreign country in early 1989. He said that once the company develops an inventory of weapons and once production in China is on line and running smoothly, he will begin to market the weapon to other governments.

He said that a possible sale of his Nighthawk Carbine to the Chinese government for its 3-million-strong army would be icing on the cake.

“This project is not predicated on (the Chinese) buying the weapon, but if the opportunity makes itself available to sell to China, we want to be the first ones in line. By having our guns in production there, it’ll give us that edge.”

“We plan to be aggressive in international sales--South America, the Middle East, Asia, whichever country we can get approval from the State Department to sell to.

“We already have an interest list, but until we reach production capability, I don’t want to sell what I don’t have in hand. I won’t even try,” he added.

Weaver characterized his firm as one of about five “smaller” manufacturers of weapons in the United States, against seven or eight major arms producers domestically.

Weaver also has developed a third weapon: a PKS-9 Ultralite submachine gun capable of firing 850 9-millimeter rounds per minute.

“For the Ultralite, we’re looking for another country to manufacture it--but one which can be an ultimate end-user, because it’s specifically designed for military and police use,” Weaver said. “We’re looking for a country that has an internal requirement for that kind of weapon.”