OerlikonBührle

Oerlikon-Bührle AG, commonly known as Oerlikon-Bührle, was a Swiss industrial and defense company based in Zurich. The company originated in 1939 when industrialist Emil Georg Bührle acquired the armaments division of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (Oerlikon Machine Factory) and merged it with his own holdings to form Oerlikon-Bührle AG. The united entity produced weapons, ammunition, and related machinery and later expanded into precision engineering, machine tools, and components for other industries.

In its operations, Oerlikon-Bührle supplied the Swiss military and other customers with firearms and defense equipment. The firm’s wartime activities have been the subject of historical scrutiny and debate regarding arms sales in the 1930s and 1940s, including to Germany. After World War II, the company underwent reorganizations as markets evolved, and its arms businesses were gradually integrated into a broader corporate structure. The Oerlikon name continued to be used in various units and brands within the modern Swiss technology group that emerged from these reorganizations, including entities such as Oerlikon Contraves.

Legacy and context are also linked to later corporate forms. The Emil Georg Bührle Foundation, established by the family, funds arts and culture and is part of the broader discourse surrounding the family’s industrial legacy. Oerlikon-Bührle is frequently referenced in discussions of Swiss industrial history and the ethics of wartime arms trade, illustrating the complex intersections of business, national defense, and postwar corporate restructuring.