RUAG Holding (originally Rüstungsunternehmen Aktiengesellschaft; Armaments Companies JSC) is a Swiss company specialising in aerospace engineering and the defence industry. Its headquarters are located in Bern, while it also has numerous production sites in Switzerland (Nyon, Aigle, Thun, Bern, Emmen, Altdorf, Zürich and Interlaken), Germany (Oberpfaffenhofen, Hamburg Wedel and Fürth), Sweden (Gothenburg, Linköping and Åmotfors), Austria (Vienna, Berndorf) and United States (Tampa and Titusville), and sales companies in Australia, UK, France, Belgium, Brazil and Malaysia.
History
Background and initial years
During the 1990s, the government of Switzerland decided that the nation's military enterprises needed to be restructured, a view which led to the passing of the Federal Act on Federal Armaments Companies (FArmCA) in 1997. In accordance with this act, a new entity, known as RUAG Switzerland Ltd, was established to bring together four former state-run enterprises: SE Schweizerische Elektronikunternehmung AG, SF Schweizerische Unternehmung für Flugzeuge und Systeme AG, SM Schweizerische Munitionsunternehmung AG, and SW Schweizerische Unternehmung für Waffensysteme AG.