The Ameli (abbreviated from the Spanish Ametralladora ligera or "light machine gun") is a 5.56mm light machine gun designed for the Spanish Army (Ejército de Tierra) by the nationally owned and operated Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME) small arms research institute (founded by the Spanish government in 1950). Development of the weapon began in 1974 under the supervision of the Colonel José María Jiménez Alfaro (who would later become the director of CETME). The Ameli was officially unveiled in 1981 and after undergoing exhaustive military trials adopted into service in 1982 as the standard squad-level support weapon of the Spanish Army under the designation MG82. The Ameli is manufactured at the Empresa Nacional Santa Bárbara factory (now General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas) in A Coruña. The Ameli never saw the widespread adoption originally envisioned for the program due to quality and reliability concerns and is currently being replaced by the Heckler & Koch MG4E light machine gun.