In 1935, before rearmament began, Vickers-Armstrongs was the third-largest manufacturing employer in Britain, behind Unilever and ICI.

Under the terms of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 BAC was nationalised to become part of British Aerospace (later BAE Systems).

In 1991 the Vickers Hardness Machinery business was bought by the then field engineers, and continues today as UK Calibrations Limited based in Kidderminster.

The steelmaking division became part of British Steel Corporation and the remaining interests were divested as the public company Vickers plc, whose various components were later split.

During World War II Ruwolt's firm produced armaments for the Australian Government, including field artillery such as mortars and howitzer cannon.

The Barrow yard was nationalised and became part of British Shipbuilders in 1977, was privatised as VSEL in 1986 and remains in operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarines.

One of the company's most important designs was the Valentine Infantry Tank, produced in the thousands in World War II.

In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, and a new 'art deco' headquarters designed by architect C. Howard Crane was built at its Brooklands factory in Surrey although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names.

In the interwar period, the company produced the Wellesley, designed by Rex Pierson using the geodetic airframe principle of structural engineer Barnes Wallis.

Vickers-Armstrongs was one of the few British manufacturers of marine diesel engines, notably for Royal Navy S, T-class and Estonian Kalev-class submarines during World War II.

These were serious competitors to the Birmingham Small Arms equivalent products, and Vickers .22 target rifles were at the top of the major competitions' results for more than a decade.