ArmaLite, or Armalite, is an American small arms engineering company founded in the mid-1950s in Hollywood, California. It ceased business in the 1980s. The company was revived in 1996 by Mark Westrom. ArmaLite had other brushes with success, especially with the ArmaLite AR-18. These were not enough to sustain the company, and it ceased operations in the early 1980s. The design rights and name were purchased in 1996 by Mark Westrom, who re-launched the company ArmaLite, Inc., now headquartered in Geneseo, Illinois.