The Paul Scherrer Institut is currently constructing an x-ray free electron laser, SwissFEL, based on the principle of self–amplified spontaneous emission. The laser will provide researchers with a high brilliance source of hard (1 – 7 Angstroms) and soft (7 – 70 Angstroms) x-rays with femto-second scale pulse lengths. The driver for SwissFEL will be a 5.8 GeV normal conducting electron linac essentially based on C-band (5.7 GHz) radio-frequency (RF) technology. We will describe developments currently in progress for the linac design and construction with emphasis on the RF systems. A 250 MeV S-band (3 GHz) electron injector has been built as a proto-type of the SwissFEL injector in order to validate technology choices for the project. Some results of beam tests on the injector will also be presented.
