Development of the weapon began in 1974 under the supervision of Colonel José María Jiménez Alfaro (who would later become the director of CETME).[2] The Ameli was officially unveiled in 1981 and after undergoing exhaustive military trials was adopted into service in 1982 as the standard squad-level support weapon of the Spanish Army under the designation MG 82.[2][3] The Ameli was manufactured at the Empresa Nacional Santa Bárbara factory (now General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas) in A Coruña.[4] until 2013, when the factory was closed.