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AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
arms manufacturer The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and ser ...
which today is part of the British arms concern
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
. The name has been associated with the
iron industry Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...
and
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
manufacturing for more than 350 years.


History

Located in
Karlskoga Karlskoga () is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality, Sweden. Located within Örebro County, 45 km (28 mi) west of Örebro, and 10 km (6 mi) north of Degerfors. With a 2020 population of 27,386 distributed over 10.55 square miles (2 ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the company originates from the
hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre- industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The feat ...
"Boofors", which was founded as a
royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
state-owned company in 1646. The modern corporate structure was created in 1873 with the foundation of Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång. The Bofors Works was acquired by Johan Eberhard Geijer in 1762. It was then acquired by the latter's brother, Emanuel af Geijerstam. A leading Swedish steel producer by the early 1870s, when steel began to be used for gun manufacture in Sweden, Bofors initially sold cast and forged steel produced by the Siemens-Martin process to
Finspång Finspång () is a locality and the seat of Finspång Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 12,440 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Finspång is a traditional industrial town. The first industries were established in 1580 when a Royal fact ...
gun works, but soon started to expand into weapons manufacture. The company's first
cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
workshop was opened in 1884. Bofors' most famous owner was
Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
, who owned the company from 1894 until his death in December 1896. Nobel played a key role in reshaping the former iron and steel producer to a modern cannon manufacturer and
chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products. The ...
participant. The powder manufacturer AB Bofors Nobelkrut, later an explosives and general organic-chemical producer, was created in 1898 as a wholly owned subsidiary. By 1911, AB Bofors-Gullspång had outcompeted, bought and closed down its Finspång Swedish competitor in cannon manufacture. The company's name was shortened to AB Bofors in 1919. Over the years, the works has been associated with members of various prominent Swedish families, e.g. the Robsahm,
Geijer Geijer is a Swedish surname. People with this surname include: * Agnes Geijer (1898–1989), Swedish historian and archaeologist *Arne Geijer (1910–1979), trade unionist *Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847), writer, composer, and historian *Eric Nev ...
, Lagerhjelm, Mitander, Oxehufvud families.


Present ownership

In 1999,
Saab AB Saab AB (originally , later just SAAB and Saab Group) is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. Headquartered in Stockholm, the development and the manufacturing is undertaken in Linköping. Saab produced automobiles from 194 ...
purchased the Celsius Group, then the parent company of Bofors. In September 2000,
United Defense Industries United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and ...
(UDI) of the United States acquired Bofors Weapons Systems (the heavy weapons division), while Saab retained the missile interests. The British company
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
acquired UDI and its Bofors subsidiary in 2005, and ''BAE Systems Bofors'' is now a business unit of the Swedish subdivision
BAE Systems AB BAE Systems AB is a Swedish defence company and a subsidiary of BAE Systems Land & Armaments, whose ultimate parent is the British defence contractor BAE Systems. The company is a holding company for Land Systems Hägglunds AB and BAE Systems Bof ...
, while the Swedish unit
Saab Bofors Dynamics Saab Bofors Dynamics, located in Karlskoga and Linköping, Sweden, is a subsidiary of the Saab Group that specializes in military materiel such as missile systems and anti-tank systems. Its corporate heritage goes back to Bofors, a hammer mill, ...
is part of Saab AB.


Products

The name Bofors is strongly associated with the
Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 (often referred to simply as the "Bofors 40 mm gun", the "Bofors gun" and the like, see name) is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The gu ...
used by both sides during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. This automatic cannon is often simply called the ''Bofors gun'' and saw service on both land and sea. It became so widely known that anti-aircraft guns in general were often referred to as Bofors guns. Another well-known gun made by the company was the Bofors 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun L/45, a standard anti-tank weapon used by a variety of armies from the mid 1930s throughout World War II. It was built under licence in a variety of nations such as Finland, The Netherlands and Poland and used in a variety of tanks and armored vehicles, such as the
Vickers 6-ton The Vickers 6-ton tank or Vickers Mark E, also known as the "Six-tonner" was a British light tank designed as a private project at Vickers. It was not adopted by the British Army, but was picked up by many foreign armed forces. It was licen ...
,
M39 Pantserwagen The ''Pantserwagen'' M39 or DAF ''Pantrado'' 3 was a Dutch 6×4 armoured car produced in the late thirties for the Royal Dutch Army. From 1935 the DAF automobile company designed several armoured fighting vehicles based on its innovative ''Trad ...
and
7TP The 7TP (''siedmiotonowy polski'' - 7-tonne Polish) was a Polish light tank of the Second World War. It was developed from the British Vickers 6-ton. A standard tank of the Polish Army during the 1939 Invasion of Poland, its production did not e ...
, among others.


Guns

(incomplete list) * Bofors 20 mm Automatic Anti-Aircraft Gun L/70 * Bofors 25 mm Automatic Gun L/64 * Bofors 37 mm Anti-Tank Gun L/45 * Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/43 * Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 *
Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/70 The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/70, (Bofors 40 mm L/70, Bofors 40 mm/70, Bofors 40/70 and the like), is a multi-purpose autocannon developed by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors (today BAE Systems Bofors) during the secon ...
* Bofors 57 mm Automatic Aircraft Gun L/50 *
Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60 Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60 ( sv, 57 mm sjöautomatkanon L/60 (''57 mm SAK 60'')), also known as 57 mm/60 (2.25") SAK Model 1950 and the like (full English product name: Bofors 57 mm Automatic A.A. Gun L/60 In Stabili ...
*
Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70 Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70 ( sv, 57 mm sjöautomatkanon L/70 (''57 mm SAK 70'')), among other names (see Names), is a series of dual-purpose naval guns designed and produced by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors (since ...
* Bofors 105 mm Coastal Automatic Gun L/54 * Bofors 120 mm Automatic Anti-Aircraft Gun L/46 * Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 * Bofors 152 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/53 * Bofors Tracked Automotive Gun 155 mm L/50 * Bofors 155 mm Field Howitzer 77 A L/38 * Bofors 155 mm Field Howitzer 77 B L/39 * Bofors 155 mm Field Howitzer 77 BW L/39 L/52 (Archer) * Bofors 283 mm Naval Gun L/45


Missiles

(incomplete list) * BANTAM (Bofors Anti Tank Missile) * BILL (Bofors Infantry Light and Lethal anti-tank missile) *
RBS 23 The RBS 23, designated BAMSE (Bofors Advanced Missile System Evaluation), is a Swedish medium range, all-weather capable air defense system developed by Bofors and Ericsson Microwave Systems (now both in the Saab group). BAMSE is designed for pr ...
*
RBS 70 RBS 70 (Robotsystem 70) is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) designed for anti-aircraft warfare in all climate zones and with little to no support from other forces. Originally designed and manufactured by the Swedish defence firm of ...


Other weapons

(incomplete list) * Bofors 375 mm multi-barrel ASW rocket launcher * Bofors HPM Blackout high-powered microwave weapon system


India scandal

In 1986, the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
and Bofors signed a US$285 million contract for the supply of 410 155 mm field howitzers. In 1987, Swedish Radio alleged that Bofors paid illegal commissions of to top Indian politicians, members of senior Congress party and key defence officials to seal the deal. The scandal contributed to the defeat of Rajiv Gandhi's government in the elections three years later.


See also

* Bofors Hotel * ''
The Bofors Gun ''The Bofors Gun'' is a 1968 British drama film directed by Jack Gold and starring Nicol Williamson, David Warner, Ian Holm and John Thaw. It was based on the play ''Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun'' by John McGrath. It is set in 1954, d ...
'' – 1968 British drama film directed by
Jack Gold Jacob M. "Jack" Gold (28 June 1930 – 9 August 2015) was a British film and television director. He was part of the British realist tradition which followed the Free Cinema movement. Career Jacob M. Gold was born in London, the son of Ch ...
, based on the play "Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun" by John McGrath *
List of modern armament manufacturers The following list of modern armament manufacturers presents major companies producing modern weapons and munitions for military, paramilitary, government agency and civilian use. The companies are listed by their full name followed by the short ...
* List of oldest companies


References


Citations


Works cited

*


External links


BAE Systems Bofors

Saab Bofors Dynamics
* http://nobelkarlskoga.se/welcome-2/bofors-industrial-museum/ {{Authority control Companies established in 1646 Companies established in 1873 Defence companies of Sweden Defunct companies of Sweden Karlskoga Municipality BAE Systems subsidiaries and divisions 1646 establishments in Sweden