S.A.F

The FAMAE SAF has been produced by Fábricas y Maestranzas del Ejército (FAMAE), the Chilean state arms manufacturer, since 1993. Its design derives from the Swiss SIG SG 540 assault rifle, which FAMAE built under licence in Chile during the 1980s. Since 1999, Taurus has manufactured the SAF under licence in Brazil in .40 S&W for law enforcement customers. Semi-automatic-only versions built by FAMAE are marketed principally in Canada.

The SAF is a blowback-operated, select-fire submachine gun firing from a closed bolt. It is essentially a shortened SG 540 in which the rifle's rotating bolt has been replaced by a simple blowback bolt; the receiver, stock, fore-end, trigger and hammer assembly, and floating firing pin are carried over from the SIG design, including the folding trigger guard intended for use with winter gloves. A bolt hold-open catch engages after the last round is fired. The upper and lower receivers and the trigger guard are steel, while the pistol grip and handguards are polymer. Later production features an ambidextrous safety and fire selector and accepts SIG 552/553 handguards; earlier examples used handguards specific to the SAF. The selector has four positions: safe, single shot, three-round burst and fully automatic. Semi-automatic-only configurations were produced for police and civilian customers. The 9 mm magazines are translucent polymer, permitting a visual round count, and carry lugs on one side with matching slots on the other so that two or three magazines can be clipped together. The .40 S&W magazines are steel. All versions use a post front sight adjustable for elevation and an aperture rear sight adjustable for windage.

Four principal variants have been manufactured: a standard model with a fixed polymer buttstock; a standard model with a left-side-folding tubular metal buttstock; the SAF SD; and the Mini-SAF. The SAF SD has an integral suppressor, a folding buttstock, a slightly longer barrel and a reduced cyclic rate. The Mini-SAF is a compact model with a short barrel, a vertical foregrip and no shoulder stock, though the folding tubular buttstock of the standard weapon can be fitted. It accepts the standard magazines but is supplied with shorter 20-round magazines to reduce its profile. The SAF-200 is a modernised variant under evaluation by FAMAE and the Chilean Army, fitted with a retractable and folding stock, a new handguard and Picatinny rails for optics and lateral accessories; the rails are standard on the SAF-200 and optional on the other variants. The SAF serves with the Chilean Armed Forces and police. In Argentina it is used by the Airport Security Police and the Mendoza Provincial Police, and in Brazil by the Federal Highway Police and the Military Police of São Paulo State. El Salvador's National Civilian Police also operates the type, and it was formerly used by the Portuguese National Republican Guard.