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General Dynamics Corporation
Type Public (NYSE: GD)
Founded New York, New York (February 21, 1952)
Headquarters Falls Church, Virginia
Key people Nicholas D. Chabraja, Chairman and CEO
Industry Defense
Products Conglomerate
Revenue ▲$27. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. The City of New York Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 1952 ( MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Falls Church is an Independent city in Virginia, United States. Nicholas D Chabraja (pronounced cha-brah-ya is the Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics Corporation He attended Northwestern University where A chief executive officer ( CEO) or chief executive is typically the highest-ranking corporate officer ( executive) or administrator For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Defence In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need A conglomerate is a large Company that consists of seemingly unrelated Business sections In business revenue or revenues is Income that a company receives from its normal business activities usually from the sale of goods and services 24 Billion USD (2007)
Operating income ▲$3. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been In financial and business Accounting, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT is a measure of a firm's profitability that excludes interest and income tax expenses 11 Billion USD (2007)
Net income ▲$2. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Net income is equal to the Income that a firm has after subtracting costs and Expenses from the total Revenue. 07 Billion USD (2007)
Total assets $25. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been In Business and Accounting, assets are everything owned by a person or company (all tangible and intangible property that can be converted into cash. 73 Billion USD (2007)
Total equity $11. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been In accounting terms after all liabilities are paid ownership equity is the remaining interest in Assets If valuations placed on assets do not exceed liabilities 77 Billion USD (2007)
Employees 83,500 (Dec 2007) [1]
Website www.gd.com

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) is a defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2006 it is the sixth largest defense contractor in the world[2]. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. A conglomerate is a large Company that consists of seemingly unrelated Business sections In Finance and Economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of Asset for either financial goals or ethical objectives A defense contractor (or defence contractor, also sometimes called a military contractor) is a Business organization or individual that provides products The company has changed markedly in the post-Cold War era of defense consolidation. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The company has four main business segments: Marine Systems, Combat Systems, Information Systems and Technology, and Aerospace. The company's former Fort Worth Division manufactured the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the most-produced Western jet fighter, but that subsidiary was sold to Lockheed in 1993. Lockheed Martin ( is a large multinational Aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology Company formed in 1995 by the merger of GD reentered the airframe business in 1999 with their purchase of Gulfstream Aerospace. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet Aircraft.

Contents

History

Electric Boat

General Dynamics traces its ancestry to John Philip Holland's Holland Torpedo Boat Company. John Philip Holland (Seán Pilib Ó Maolchalann ( 29 February, 1840 &ndash 12 August, 1914) was an Engineer who developed the first This company was responsible for developing the U.S. Navy's first submarines built at Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard, located in Elizabethport, New Jersey. Not to be confused with Port Elizabeth New Jersey Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal is the name for the port facility in The revolutionary submarine boat Holland VI was built there, its keel being laid down in 1896. Crescent's superintendent and naval architect, Arthur Leopold Busch, supervised the construction of this submarine. Arthur Leopold Busch (1866-1956 was a British -born American Naval architect (born on March 5, 1866) responsible for the development After being launched on 17 May 1897, it was eventually purchased by the Navy and renamed USS Holland. The Holland was officially commissioned on 12 October 1900. The Navy placed an order for more submarines, which were developed in rapid succession and were assembled at two different locations on both coasts. These submarines were known as the A-Class or Adder Class, and became America's first fleet of underwater craft at the beginning of the 20th century.

Due to the lengthy and expensive process of introducing the world's first practical submarines, Holland had to part with his company and sell his interest to financier Isaac Leopold Rice, renaming the new firm as the Electric Boat Company on 7 February 1899. A submarine is a Watercraft that can operate independently below water as distinct from a Submersible that has only limited underwater capability Isaac Leopold Rice ( February 22, 1850 in Wachenheim, Bavaria – November 2, 1915) was a U General Dynamics/Electric Boat (usually abbreviated as Electric Boat, and referred to as "EB" or "The Boat Company" by its employees a division of Rice became Electric Boat's first President, remaining there from that time until 1915 when he stepped down just prior to his death on 2 November 1915.

In the post-World War II wind-down, the Electric Boat Company was cash-flush but lacking in work, with its workforce shrinking from 13,000 to 4,000 by 1946. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including General Dynamics/Electric Boat (usually abbreviated as Electric Boat, and referred to as "EB" or "The Boat Company" by its employees a division of Hoping to diversify, the president and chief executive officer, John Jay Hopkins, started looking for companies that would fit into Electric Boat's market.

Canadair purchase

They quickly found that Canadair, owned by the Canadian government, was suffering from similar post-war malaise and was up for sale. Canadair was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. Hopkins bought the company for $10 million in 1946. Even by the Canadian government's calculations, the factory alone was worth more than $22 million, excluding the value of the remaining contracts for planes or spare parts.

When they purchased Canadair, its production line and inventory systems were in disorder. Hopkins hired Canadian-born mass-production specialist H. Oliver West to take over the president's role and return Canadair to profitability. The effects were astonishing; shortly after the takeover, Canadair began delivering it's new Canadair North Star (a version of the DC-4), and was able to deliver aircraft to Trans Canada Airlines, Canadian Pacific Airlines and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) well in advance of their contracted delivery times. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Trans-Canada Air Lines (also TCA in English and Air Canada in French was a Canadian Airline and operated as the country's flag carrier Canadian Pacific Airlines, also called CP Air, was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987 The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC) was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946

As defense spending increased with the onset of the cold war, Canadair would go on to win many Canadian military contracts for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and became a major aerospace company. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the These included Canadair T-33 trainer, the Canadair Argus long-range maritime reconnaissance and transport aircraft, and the Canadair F-86 Sabre, which some argue is the best version of that aircraft to be built. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Between 1950 and 1958, 1,815 Sabres were built.

General Dynamics emerges

As the aircraft production at Canadair became increasingly important to the company, Hopkins argued that the name "Electric Boat" was no longer appropriate. On 24 April 1952 the name was officially changed to General Dynamics.

Convair purchase

GD was still cash-flush after the Canadair purchase, and given the success of that company they continued to look for new aviation purchases. In March 1953 they purchased Convair from the Atlas Group. The Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, commonly known as Convair, was a US aerospace development and manufacturing complex of the 1940s and later [3] The sale was OKed by government oversight with the proviso that GD would continue to operate out of Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, TX. This factory was set up in order to spread out strategic aircraft production and rented to Convair during the war to produce B-24 Liberator bombers. Over time, the Fort Worth plant would become Convair's major production center.

As was the case with Canadair, Convair worked as an independent division within the GD umbrella. Over the next decade the company introduced the F-106 Delta Dart interceptor (the earlier F-102 Delta Dagger being designed before the takeover), the B-58 Hustler and the Convair 880 and 990 airliners. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout An airliner is a large Fixed-wing aircraft with the primary function of transporting paying passengers Convair also introduced the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile, the Atlas. The SM-65 Atlas was a missile built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics.

Management churn

Hopkins fell seriously ill during 1957, and was eventually replaced by Frank Pace late that year. Meanwhile, John Naish succeeded Joseph McNarney as president of Convair. Henry Crown became the company's largest shareholder, and merged his Material Service Corporation with GD in 1959. Henry Crown (1896 &ndash August 14 1990) was an American Industrialist and Philanthropist.

Naish left in May 1961, taking most of Convair's top people with him. GD subsequently reorganized into Eastern Group in New York and Western Group in San Diego, with the latter taking over all of the aerospace activities and dropping the Convair brand name from its aircraft in the process. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous

Frank Pace retired under pressure in 1962 and Roger Lewis, former Secretary of the Army and Pan American Airway's CEO was brought in as the new CEO. Roger Lewis (b 26 February 1960) a former Fellow of Wolfson College at Oxford University is the biographer of Anthony Burgess. The United States Secretary of the Army is a civilian office within the Department of Defense with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States The company recovered then fell back into the same struggles. In 1971, the board brought in Dave Lewis (no relation) as Chairman and CEO. David Sloan Lewis Jr, ( July 6, 1917 - December 15, 2003) was a major force in the aerospace and defense industry for four decades At the time he was President of McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas was a major American Aerospace manufacturer and Defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft Dave Lewis served until his retirement in 1985.

Aviation powerhouse

During the early 1960s the company bid on the USAF's TFX (Tactical Fighter, eXperimental) project for a new low-level "penetrator". Robert McNamara, newly installed as the Secretary of Defence, forced a merger of the TFX with US Navy plans for a new long-range "fleet defender" aircraft. Robert Strange McNamara (born June 9 1916 in Oakland, California) is an American business executive and former United States Secretary of Defense The United States Secretary of Defense ( SECDEF) is the head of the U In order to bid on a naval version successfully, GD partnered with Grumman, who would built a customized version for aircraft carrier duties. The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U An aircraft carrier is a Warship designed with After four rounds of bids and changes, the GD/Grumman team finally won the contract over a Boeing submission. The Boeing Company is a major Aerospace and defense corporation originally founded by William E

The F-111 first flew in December 1964. The F-111B flew in May 1965, but the Navy said that it was too heavy for use on aircraft carriers. With an unacceptable Navy version, estimates for 2,400 F-111s, including exports, were sharply reduced, but GD still managed to make a $300-million profit on the project. Grumman went on to build the F-14 Tomcat, an aircraft that used many of the innovations of the F-111, but was designed solely as a carrier-borne fighter.

Reorganization

In May 1965, GD reorganized into 12 operating divisions based on product lines. The board decided to build all future planes in Fort Worth, ending plane production at San Diego (Convair's original plant), but continuing with space and missile development there. In October 1970, Roger Lewis left and David S. Lewis from McDonnell Douglas was named CEO. McDonnell Douglas was a major American Aerospace manufacturer and Defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft Lewis required that the company headquarters move to St. Louis, which occurred in February 1971.

F-16 success

In 1972, GD bid on the USAF's Lightweight Fighter (LWF) project. The Lightweight Fighter (LWF program was a US Air Force technology evaluation program initiated in the 1960s by a cabal of officers and defense analysts known as the GD and Northrop were awarded prototype contracts. The Northrop Corporation was a leading Aircraft manufacturer of the United States from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman GD, whose F-111 program was winding down, desperately needed a new aircraft contract. They organized their own "Skunk Works" group, the Advanced Concepts Laboratory, and responded with a new aircraft design that was significantly more modern than the Northrop version.

GD's YF-16 first flew in January 1974, and proved to have slightly better performance than the YF-17 in head-to-head testing. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout It entered production as the F-16 in January 1975 with an initial order of 650 and a total order of 1,388. The F-16 also won contracts worldwide, beating the F-17 in foreign competition as well. F-16 orders eventually totaled more than 4,000, making it the largest and most successful program for GD, and one of the most successful western military projects, since World War II.

Land Systems focus

In 1976, General Dynamics sold the struggling Canadair back to the Canadian government for $38 million. By 1984, General Dynamics had four divisions: Convair in San Diego, General Dynamics-Fort Worth, General Dynamics-Pomona, and General Dynamics-Electronics. In 1985 a further reorganization created the Space Systems Division from the Convair Space division. In 1985, GD also acquired Cessna. The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.

Henry Crown, still GD's largest shareholder, died on 15 August 1990. Following this, the company started to rapidly divest its underperforming divisions. Cessna was re-sold to Textron in January 1992, the San Diego missile production to General Motors-Hughes Aerospace in May 1992, the Fort Worth aircraft production to Lockheed in March 1993, and its Space Systems Division to Martin Marietta in 1994. General Motors Corporation ( GM) ( is a multinational automobile manufacturer founded in 1908 and headquartered in the United States. Hughes Aircraft Company was a major aerospace and defense company founded by Howard Hughes. The Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company was an American aerospace company founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta Martin Marietta Corporation was founded in 1961 through the Merger of The Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. The remaining Convair Aircraft Structure unit was sold to McDonnell Douglas in 1994. The remains of the Convair Division were simply closed in 1996. GD's exit from the aviation world was short-lived, and in 1999 they acquired Gulfstream Aerospace. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet Aircraft.

Having divested itself of its aviation holdings, GD concentrated on land and sea products. GD purchased Chrysler's defense divisions in 1982, renaming them General Dynamics Land Systems. Chrysler LLC is an American Automobile manufacturer that has been producing Automobiles since 1925 In 2003 they purchased the defense divisions of General Motors as well. General Motors Corporation ( GM) ( is a multinational automobile manufacturer founded in 1908 and headquartered in the United States. It is now a major supplier of armored vehicles of all types, including the M1 Abrams, LAV 25, Stryker, and a wide variety of vehicles based on these chassis. The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. LAV-25 is an eight-wheeled Armored personnel carrier (APC used by the United States Marine Corps built by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada based on the The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army

Timeline

Acquisitions

Divestitures

Company outline

Marine systems

Combat systems

Information systems and technology

Aerospace

Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of General Dynamics are: Nicholas Chabraja, James Crown, Lester Crown, William Fricks, Charles Goodman, Jay L. Johnson, George Joulwan, Paul Kaminski, John Keane, Lester Lyles, Carl Mundy, and Robert Walmsley. Bath Iron Works (BIW is a Shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath Maine. General Dynamics/Electric Boat (usually abbreviated as Electric Boat, and referred to as "EB" or "The Boat Company" by its employees a division of National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, or simply NASSCO, is a shipyard in San Diego, California, and a division of General Dynamics. The Fore River Shipyard, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from the late 1800s until 1986 The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The M1 Abrams is a main battle tank produced in the United States. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV is the newest USMC Amphibious vehicle, intended for deployment in 2015 The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled all-wheel-drive armored combat vehicles produced by General Dynamics Land Systems, in use by the United States Army The XM2001 Crusader was to be the United States Army 's next-generation self-propelled Howitzer (SPH designed to improve survivability lethality General Dynamics Corporation ( is a defense conglomerate formed by Mergers and Divestitures and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest Defense contractor General Dynamics Corporation ( is a defense conglomerate formed by Mergers and Divestitures and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest Defense contractor General Dynamics Corporation ( is a defense conglomerate formed by Mergers and Divestitures and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest Defense contractor Steyr-Daimler-Puch was a large Manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria which was broken up in 1990 The ASCOD ( A ustrian S panish Co operation D evelopment AFV family is the product of a cooperation parp between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch MOWAG is a Swiss company which develops designs and produces armoured vehicles for military applications in both land-only and amphibious configurations The Leopard 2 is a German Main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979 The ASCOD ( A ustrian S panish Co operation D evelopment AFV family is the product of a cooperation parp between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is a producer of several models of jet Aircraft. Nicholas D Chabraja (pronounced cha-brah-ya is the Chief Executive Officer of General Dynamics Corporation He attended Northwestern University where James S Crown is a businessman He is president of Henry Crown and Company, a private investment company Lester Crown (born 1926 is the son of Chicago financier Henry Crown (d Charles M Goodman (1906 USA – 1992 USA was an architect who made a name for his modern designs in Northern Virginia after World War II. Admiral Jay L Johnson, USN is a retired United States Navy officer who served from 1996-2000 as 26th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO George Alfred Joulwan (born November 16, 1939, Pottsville Pennsylvania) is a retired United States Army general, and is now a General Lester L Lyles was a United States Air Force general Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Commander Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Carl Epting Mundy Jr (born July 16 1935 was the thirtieth Commandant of the United States Marine Corps and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Admiral Sir Robert Walmsley KCB (b 1941 was Chief of Defence Procurement at the UK Ministry of Defence from 1996 to 2003 and is a retired

Financials

General Dynamics has about $12 billion in sales, primarily military, but also civilian with its Gulfstream Aerospace unit and conventional shipbuilding and repair with its National Steel and Shipbuilding subsidiary.

In 2004 General Dynamics bid for the UK company Alvis Vickers, the leading British manufacturer of armoured vehicles. Alvis Ltd was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer BL plc in 1981 In March the board of Alvis Vickers voted in favour of the £309m takeover. However at the last minute BAE Systems offered £355m for the company in what was seen as a move to keep General Dynamics out of its "back yard". BAE Systems plc (BAE is a British defence and aerospace company headquartered in Farnborough, England, that has global interests particularly This deal was finalised in June 2004.

General Dynamics has tried to acquire Newport News Shipbuilding but been blocked by regulators and competitors, as this would make General Dynamics the sole manufacturer of nuclear-powered ships in the United States. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding ( NGS) formerly called Northrop Grumman Newport News ( NGNN) or Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

Controlled subsidiaries of the corporation are donors to the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute [1]. The Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute is a Calgary Alberta -based Canadian lobbying organization

References

  1. ^ GD - General Dynamics Corporation - Google Finance
  2. ^ 2005 Defense News Top 100
  3. ^ General Dynamics Corporation. U. S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved on 2006-03-31. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor
  4. ^ CNN Money: General Dynamics Acquires Mediaware International
  5. ^ HLTH Corporation Press Release

External links

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