Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke

Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke

Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW) was a German aerospace company formed by the 1964 merger of Focke-Wulf and Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH (Weserflug). The formation of VFW was a natural outcome of the 1961 rocket technology development alliance between the two merger partners and Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB) in the Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO) group.

VFW-Fokker GmbH was a joint venture of Fokker and VFW started in 1969, but which ended in 1980.

In 1981, VFW was taken over by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), which in its turn was taken over in 1989 by DASA. In July 2000 DASA merged with Aerospatiale-Matra and CASA to form EADS.

Afterwards, the ERNO/VFW descendant was active as the space infrastructure division of Astrium contributing parts to the European Ariane space booster system and the International Space Station. In June 2003, this unit became part of EADS SPACE Transportation.