Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke

Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW; English: "United Aviation Engineering Works") was a West German aerospace manufacturer.

Such collaborative efforts continued throughout VFW's operating years, not just through ERNO but also with the Dutch aircraft producer Fokker, who formed a joint venture with the firm, VFW-Fokker GmbH, during 1969 to promote.

During the early 1960s, the government of West Germany promoted the reorganisation and consolidation of its aircraft manufacturing sector; furthermore, as many of these companies were already collaborating on various programmes, such integration was a somewhat logical outcome.

During 1964, two such companies, Focke-Wulf and Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH (Weserflug), opted to merge, the resulting combined entity that emerged being Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke (VFW), based at Bremen, Germany.

According to authors H. Dienel and P. Lyth, Lufthansa's lack of interest in the type was attributed as having been a major factor in the commercial failure of the VFW 614.

[9] According to author Mark E. Mendenhall, the management within VFW-Fokker was divided and split along national lines; while a number of German figures within the company attributed the poor sales performance to the Dutch sales team having paid the type little heed, even allegedly regarding it as a competitor to Fokker's established product lines for orders, and that salesmen had prioritised the promotion of Dutch-designed airliners instead.

According to aerospace publication Flight International, this call for a Fiat G.91 replacement, which came under a NATO requirement, known as NBMR-3, was a crucial trigger and greatly influenced the development programme that would lead to VFW's VTOL effort, designated as the VAK 191B.

[12] Initially, Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat was also a participating company in VFW, however, Italy later chose to withdraw from the joint development agreement with Germany during 1967.

[13] At one stage, the Italian government had agreed to take on 40 per cent of the programme's development costs, thus their departure meant that a substantial amount of funding was lost for the venture.

[23][24] Into the twenty-first century, the Entwicklungsring Nord (ERNO)/VFW descendant has continued to be active as the space infrastructure division of Airbus's Astrium business unit.