Ares Incorporated
Private | |
Industry | Firearms |
Founded | 1971 |
Founder |
Eugene Stoner Robert Bihun |
Headquarters |
818 Front St. Lake Erie Business Park, Port Clinton, Ohio, USA |
ARES Incorporated is an American weapons manufacturer and firearms engineering company co-founded by the renowned American weapons inventor and developer Eugene Stoner in 1971. The company is based in Port Clinton, Ohio, and produces fire control systems, turret systems, small arms, automatic cannons and industrial machinery. Mr. Stoner left the company in 1989, joining Knight's Armament Company in 1990, where his designs included the Stoner 96, a further refinement of the ARES LMG/Stoner 63.
Since its establishment, ARES, Inc. has assembled a team that is internationally recognized for advanced weapons and systems. ARES maintains an ISO 9001:2008 facility with a full range of design, manufacturing, quality, and testing services for the in-house design, manufacture, and development of small arms through large caliber weapons and feed systems. It is this integrated capability makes ARES uniquely qualified for research and development on advanced weapon systems and technologies.
ARES uses a combination of commercial and custom software in all areas of operation. From Engineering software such as: Solid Edge and AutoCAD for design; FEMAP for finite element analysis; PRODAS and IBHVG2 for interior ballistic analysis; MATLAB for engineering and data analyses; ProAnalyst for HSV viewing and analysis; MS Project for most scheduling and budgeting activities along with in-house developed spreadsheets. MS Office is used for daily activities.
ARES maintains a complete manufacturing facility with welding and fabrication and a full service machine shop. A mixture of Work Centers, CNC lathes, CNC mills, boring mills, and manual machinery give ARES the capability to manufacture everything that is designed in-house. ARES has the unique capability to deep-hole drill, hone, rifle, chamber, and machine the outside profiles of barrels up to 105mm. ARES has developed tooling and methods that make it possible for us to cost effectively manufacture prototype hardware and low production quantity hardware.
ARES Quality Assurance Department provides inspection and documentation services to insure full compliance with specifications. ARES has a full complement of inspection and measuring equipment including Coordinate Measurement Machines, video bore scopes, stargages, air gages, and laser bore measuring. Non-Destructive Testing services such as magnetic particle inspection, radiographic inspection, and x-ray are a few of the services that are available on-site through sub-contractors. Quality records include all vendor certifications and inspections. All barrels, chambers, gun receivers, and similar highly stressed, critical components are serialized and traceable to the heat and melt of the raw material.
ARES firing test range facilities are some of the most comprehensive and complete in the industry. ARES test range encompasses over 640 acres including two 100 meter indoor ranges for small and medium caliber weapons, outdoor ranges with impact bunkers at 80 and 450 meters, and outdoor ranges up to 12 km with up to 7 km airspace clearance. ARES ammunition storage bunkers accommodate class 1.1 explosives. Weapons, ammunition, and systems from small arms to large caliber are routinely tested. ARES has a full complement of instrumentation including accelerometers, pressure transducers, strain gauges, and thermocouples along with calibration facilities. ARES has a complete High Speed Video (HSV) recording and analysis system and a real time target scoring system to augment any testing. Targets can be placed out to 1,500 meters on select outdoor ranges. Temperature conditioning for hot and cold temperatures can be provided for weapon systems and ammunition.
Products
ARES has a long, rich history of innovative weapon systems, weapons, and accessories including
- 1973-1978 - ARES FARC (Future Assault Rifle Concept)
- 1974-1984 - 35mm Eagle Air Defense System, 35mm automatic cannon, 35mm CVAST Turret System
- 1975-1988 - 75mm XM274 Medium Caliber anti-armor automatic cannon and the XM91 Loader
- 1980-1982 - 90mm Medium Caliber anti-armor automatic cannons
- 1985-1986 - ARES FMG (Folding Machine Gun, designed by Francis Warin)
- 1984-1988 - .50 caliber PCTA (Plastic Cased Telescoped Ammunition), 33% lighter than M33 cartridge
- 1984-1987 - 20mm CTA 6-barrel Gatling Gun
- 1985-1989 - .50 caliber TAMG (‘’’T’’’elescoped ‘’’A’’’mmunition ‘’’M’’’achine ‘’’G’’’un, 40% lighter than the M2 HBMG
- 1985-1988 - Innovative Recoil Mechanism, real time recoil control measuring recoil position and velocity
- 1985-1998 - The Automatic Loader and 9-round Carousel Magazine for the AGS Advanced Gun System
- 1986-1993 - ARES LMG (Light Machine Gun, aka the “Stoner 86”, a refined version of the Stoner 63)
- 1986-1989 - AIWS (Advanced Individual Weapon System)
- 1986-1994 – 45mm XM295 COMVAT (COMbat Vehicles Armament Technology) automatic cannon and autoloader using CT ammunition developed by Orbital-ATK
- 1987-1990 - .50 caliber TARG (‘’’T’’’elescoped ‘’’A’’’mmunition ‘’’R’’’evolver ‘’’G’’’un a lightweight gun for aircraft applications
- 1997-1999 - The Automatic Loader and 8-round Carousel Magazine for the Stryker 105mm MGS
- 1997-2003 - The recoil mechanism for the Stryker 105mm MGS
- 2003-present - Sole source supplier for new and refurbished recoil mechanisms for the Stryker 105mm MGS
- 2001-2003 - Validated the US Army Benet Laboratories' RAVEN (RArefaction WaVE Gun) concept with the 35mm Demonstrator and the ARES designed and manufactured firing mount
- 2004-2011 - LSAT (Lightweight Small Arms Technologies), in cooperation with AAI Corporation) that included, 5..56mm CT Spiral 1 ammunition design, 5.56mm LMG weapon action, 5.56mm Carbine
- 2006-2013 - Test and refinement of US Army Benet Laboratories' 105mm RAVEN Demonstrator and the ARES designed and manufactured firing mount
- 2008-2013 - Designed, manufactured, and tested the Medium caliber 45mm RAVEN Demonstrator and firing mount
- 2005-present - 7.62mm EPG (Externally Powered Gun) designed by Gene Stoner in the early 1970's; updated and developed for today's remote weapon stations
- 2007-present – Developing manufacturing technology to rifle barrels with an explosively bonded Tantalum-Tungsten liner
- 2014–present – Design the Intermediate Caliber CT Carbine
- Small, Medium, and Large Caliber Mann Barrels and Launchers
Services
- Complete firing test range encompassing over 650 acres
- Interior and exterior ballistic instrumentation
- Indoor and outdoor firing ranges
- Small arms to 155mm artillery weapons
- Gun barrel design and manufacturing
- Experimental and one-of-a-kind gun barrels
- Weapon Systems, weapons, and component design and manufacturing
- Laser bore measuring medium caliber gun barrels
Notes & sources
- Business Development Department, ARES, Inc.
- ARES, Inc. Company Brochure
- ARES, Inc. Gun Barrel Capabilities Brochure
- ARES Inc. listing at MacRaes Blue Book
- Stoner interview from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
- Watters, Daniel (2000–2005). "The 5.56 x 45mm: 1967–1973". TheGunZone.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
- The 5.56 x 45mm: 1974–1985, 1986–1994, 1995–1999, 2000–2003, 2004–Present