''Eidgenössische Konstruktionswerkstätte'' English: "Federal Constructions Works", short K+W, was a Swiss state-owned enterprise, with the aim of making the Swiss military independent of foreign sources for its equipment needs. It was established in 1867 in

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

and produced artillery, vehicles and other typical military equipment. In 1914 Switzerland put in an effort to make itself independent of foreign suppliers of military aircraft and started the production of the DH-1 in Thun. Long-standing connections to the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

ensured the necessary know-how. 1940 the aviation department moved from Thun to Emmen (LU) and in 1943 it became a separate unit of the

Swiss Armed Forces The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

independent under the name of Eidgenössisches Flugzeugwerk (F+W) (Federal Aviation Works). The Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette focused now on the production of

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

s for the Swiss Army, both of its own designs and licensed production of

M113 armored personnel carrier The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 armored personnel carrier, M59 A ...

s and

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

tanks and other land systems for the Swiss Army. Since 1995 it changed its name several times, started exporting and is now part of RUAG Defence. There is a museum of the company tanks in Thun, Bern, Switzerland.

Aircraft

* Häfeli DH-1 * Häfeli DH-2 *

Häfeli DH-3 The Häfeli DH-3 was a 1910 Switzerland, Swiss two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, built by the aircraft department of the Federal Construction Works (''Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette'', (K+W)) at Thun, Switzerland. Development and design ...

* Häfeli DH-4 * Häfeli DH-5 * Militär-Apparat MA-7 * EKW C-35 * EKW C-3600 * EKW C-3602 * EKW C-3603 * EKW C-3604 * F+W C-3605 * Morane-Saulnier D-3800

Armored vehicles

* Nahkampfkanone 1 * Panzer 58 * Panzer 61 * Panzer 68 * Zielfahrzeug 68 * Entpannungspanzer 65 * Brückenpanzer 68 * Fliegerabwehrpanzer 68 *

Panzerkanone 68 The Panzerkanone 68 ("Armoured gun 68") is a Swiss self-propelled howitzer produced by the Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette (Federal Manufacturing Works) to meet a Swiss Army requirement. Only four were manufactured; they served for three ...

References

Military vehicle manufacturers Firearm manufacturers of Switzerland Aircraft manufacturers of Switzerland Defence companies of Switzerland Companies owned by the federal government of Switzerland Companies based in the canton of Lucerne {{Switzerland-company-stub