The Firearm Blog reports that General Paul Tellié, under whose guidance the FAMAS rifle was developed, passed away... "French military blogs are reporting that General Paul Tellié, the lead engineer of the FAMAS assault rifle, has passed away. The General began working on what would become the FAMAS in the late 1960s. It would take more than a decade before the French military finally decided to replace their aging sub machine guns and MAS-49 battle rifles.