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Oerlikon Contraves / Rheinmetall Air Defence

Headquartered in Zurich, the Rheinmetall Air Defence group also has subsidiaries in Malaysia and Singapore. Oerlikon Bührle Holding sold Oerlikon Contraves in 1999 to Rheinmetall DeTec AG. By 2004 Oerlikon Contraves had about 1,800 employees worldwide and generates sales of around 310 million euros. In order to strengthen its position in the world market Oerlikon Contraves AG changed its name to Rheinmetall Air Defence AG as of 01 January 2009. All air defence activities within the group were then concentrated under its leadership.

The Rheinmetall Air Defence Group, comprising the Air Defence division of the Rheinmetall Defence Group, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of state-of-the-art antiaircraft systems. In the domain of cannon-based air defence technology, Rheinmetall Air Defence is the global leader and the sole single-source supplier of fire control systems, automatic cannon, integrated missile launchers and Ahead ammunition.

Around the globe, the armed forces of more than 40 nations have come to rely on the multifaceted, automated and highly effective air defence solutions produced by Rheinmetall Air Defence. Among the company's best-known products are its widely introduced Skyguard twin-gun fire units, the Skyshield generation with its pioneering revolver guns, and the highly mobile Skyranger family, which is capable of engaging both air and ground targets.

Rheinmetall Air Defence advises and assists customers on introducing new and existing weapon systems and on meeting their logistical and maintenance needs. Moreover, it provides the necessary training, and makes available combat upgrade packages for extending the service life of weapon systems.

Ammunition, individual weapons and complete systems undergo rigorous testing and trials at the proving ground at Ochsenboden in Switzerland. In addition to project planning, design and development, the range of services offered by the company's manufacturing unit in Zurich includes materials procurement and process engineering as well as the assembly and commissioning of units, equipment and systems. In addition to comprehensive life cycle management services, Rheinmetall Air Defence offers customer-oriented warehousing and shipping logistics. Experienced service engineers provide customers with technical support at every stage of the supply process.

Oerlikon can trace its roots to 1850, with the foundation of Leybold Vacuum in Cologne. In 1853 Franz Saurer established a small foundry in a suburb of St. Gallen, Switzerland. This paved the way for more than a century and a half of history of the Saurer Industrial Group. The predecessor to Oerlikon-Bührle AG, Schweizerische Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon (SWO) the Swiss Machine Tool Factory Oerlikon was established in 1906 with 150 employees. The new company absorbed the machine tool department of the then existing Machinery Manufacturing Company Oerlikon. The new Factory building on the Birchstrasse was acquired in 1907, in Oerlikon, a district of Zurich.

The year 1923 saw the acquisition of Swiss Machine Tool Factory Oerlikon shares by Magdeburger Machine Tool Factory in Germany. The new company is called Machine Tool Factory Oerlikon. In 1924 the firm acquired the patents and the staff of the Machinery Manufacturing Company in Seebach (Zurich) which is engaged in the manufacture of anti-aircraft and armored vehicle defence weapons. From 1924 through 1927 Emil Georg Bührle, then the leading staff member of the Magdeburger firm, acquires step by step the majority of Machine Tool Factory Oerlikon. In 1936, the rest of the shares come under the ownership of the Bührle family.

Contraves AG was established in 1936 in Zurich as an office for the study of technical/scientific problems in the area of anti-aircraft techniques. Start of the development of Fire Control Units. The company name is derived from the Latin ("contra aves" = against birds = anti-aircraft). Also in 1936, SWO became Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Oerlikon & Co. To spread his commercial risk, proprietor Emil Georg Bührle gradually expands the company by acquiring businesses in other sectors. In doing so, he laid the foundations of the highly diversified company.

From 1944-1946 came the progressive takeover of Contraves AG shares by Bührle. Emil Buehrle of Oerlikon, Switzerland, a German munitions magnate and owner of the Oerlikon arms factory, was believed to have been a naturalized Swiss. He is believed to have been an important recipient of looted works of art by purchase from Fischer and Wendland; advised principally Mathan and Montag; and, made direct purchase in Paris from Dequoy.

New structuring of the Bührle group came in 1972/1973 through the combining of individual firms into a single corporate group. Thus are created among others the corporate group Oerlikon Bührle Defence (with Machine Tool Factory Oerlikon) and Oerlikon Bührle Contraves (with Contraves AG).

In 1960-1970, Oerlikon-Contraves and Hispano Suiza, two private Swiss companies, separately tested DU ammunition in Switzerland, in the cantons of Schwyz and Geneva. The Federal Military Department (former Swiss Federal Department of Defence) tested DU ammunition between 1975 and 1980. In all, 176 g of DU were fired in an enclosed test tunnel. DU was not deemed to show significantly better results than Wolfram. The DU tests were accordingly brought to an end.

The Skyguard system with 35 mm anti-aircraft cannon and the antiaircraft tank of Oerlikon-Contraves was fielded in the 1970s. The U.S. Army recognized the need for a new Air Defense system two decades ago, launching the Division Air Defense Gun System (DIVAD) in January 1978. One DIVAD (“Sergeant York”) prototype had as the main armament twin 40-mm L70 Bofors (Sweden) guns, while the other twin 35-mm KDA Oerlikon (Swiss) guns. For various reasons, the DIVAD program did not live to see actual deployment.

By 1980 the Oerlikon-Bührle Group employed around 37,000 people – the high-water mark in the corporation’s history. In 1991 the company decides to focus on technology, consumer goods and customer services.

For Oerlikon Contraves — a firm seated in a neutral country — by 1990 participation in the European arms market was only possible under adversity. In the area of air defense, the situation appeared to be somewhat more favorable, as relatively few air defense projects in the LLAD [] sector of the NATO countries were planned. Strengthening of r company locations in Italy and Germany by concentration of group internal activities for the NATO market on the one hand, and by looking for cooperation partners on the other hand, through the quest for joint venture partners. Machine tool works Oerlikon Bührle AG and Contraves AG merged in 1990-1992 into a single company, Oerlikon Contraves AG. Independence of the ammunition division came in 1993, which created Oerlikon Contraves Pyrotec AG as a 100-percent-owned subsidiary of OCAG.

Oerlikon Contraves Group represented within Rheinmetall DeTec AG the competence in the Business Unit "Air Defence Systems", and is worldwide one of the leading manufacturers of complex weapon systems for air defence. In the field of gun-based air defence, the group is the market leader and the only supplier of systems comprising fire control, guns, ammunition, and guided missiles, all out of one hand. The core competences of the internationally operating corporate group include the development and production of complex air defence weapon systems and vehicle armament in the medium caliber range, as well as simulators and training systems. The leading company of the group is Oerlikon Contraves AG in Zurich, Switzerland. Subsidiary companies are located in Germany, Italy, Canada, Malaysia, and Singapore. Total sales in 2001 by Oerlikon Contraves (incl. Oerlikon Contraves Pyrotec AG) amounted to 370 million EUR.

Oerlikon Contraves air defence systems were in use by the Armed Forces of over 40 countries. The internationally well accepted land based air defence systems are the classical Skyguard/ 35mm twin gun and the newly developed Skyshield 35-Ahead revolver gun generation of fire units. The group developed and produced multi sensor radar fire control units and high rate of fire fully automatic guns in house, and is thus the only company that is in a position to supply complete air defence systems, all out of one hand. The Test Center Ochsenboden, located in a Swiss Alps valley near Zurich, provided the facilities for comprehensive firing and testing programs including modern measuring techniques for weapons, ammunition, and complete systems.

Contraves Goerz Corp., once employed about 1,000 people in Pittsburgh. The name Contraves was developed in 1974 from the combination of two companies: the Fecker Systems Division of Owens-Illinois (from the J.W. Fecker Co. established in 1881) and the Goerz Optical Co. By 2001 three floors of manufacturing space housing 155 workers is all that was left of the former Contraves Goerz Corp., once one of Western Pennsylvania's high-tech stars with more than 1,100 employees. Contraves, which designs and manufactures high-tech assemblies, was renamed Contraves Inc. after a 1990s restructuring that saw it abandon the cyclical defense business.

Today Oerlikon is a globally leading company in the field of thin film, vacuum propulsion, textile and precision technology. Based on these core competencies, Oerlikon develops production systems, components, and services for high-technology products. The company's commercial activities center on protective coatings for precision tools and components (Segment Coating), systems for producing vacuums and conveying process gases (Segment Vacuum), equipment for textile production (Segment Textile) and propulsion technology (Segment Drive Systems) as well as aerospace and production systems for nanotechnology applications (Segment Advanced Technologies).