U.S. Army Orders Vehicles for Fourth Stryker Brigade from General Dynamics
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – The U.S. Army has ordered a fourth brigade of Stryker wheeled combat vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). The March 4 order, for 212 of 300 vehicles, is valued at $282.4 million. Deliveries of the vehicles will occur between February 2005 and January 2006. The vehicles are part of a $4 billion order awarded in November 2000 to equip the Army’s six new Stryker Brigade Combat Teams with 2,131 Stryker armored vehicles.
The Army is expected to order 88 additional Stryker vehicles within 120 days to completely outfit the fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
The Stryker Brigade Combat Teams will maneuver easily in close and urban terrain, while providing protection in open terrain. Performance highlights of the new vehicles include C-130 transportability; networked C4ISR capability; integral 14.5mm armor protection and 152mm artillery airburst protection; self-deployment and self-recovery capability; reduced vehicle acoustic signature; ability to carry a nine-man infantry or engineer squad; and bunker and wall breaching capability. These characteristics support a force that can move rapidly as a cohesive combined-arms combat team, as demonstrated by the Stryker Brigade’s ongoing operations in Iraq.
The Army will have six Stryker Brigade Combat Teams by 2008. Stryker is the Army’s highest-priority production combat vehicle program and the centerpiece of the ongoing Army
Transformation. Significantly lighter and more transportable than existing tanks and armored vehicles, Stryker fulfills an immediate requirement to equip a strategically deployable (C-17/C-5) and operationally deployable (C-130) brigade capable of rapid movement anywhere on the globe in a combat-ready configuration.
Stryker is a family of eight-wheel drive combat vehicles than can travel at speeds up to 62 mph on highways, with a range of 312 miles. It operates with the latest C4ISR equipment as well as detectors for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Stryker vehicle configurations include the nuclear, chemical and biological reconnaissance vehicle; anti-tank guided missile and medical evacuation vehicles; and carriers for mortars, engineer squads, infantry squads, command groups, and fire support teams.
The Mobile Gun System, a separate variant, is armed with a General Dynamics 105mm tank cannon in a low-profile, fully stabilized, “shoot on the move” turret. It carries 18 rounds of NATO standard 105mm main gun ammunition; 400 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition; and 3,400 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition. The system, which began development in 2001, will complete a series of Force Development Exercises and Limited User Tests this year. The Army is scheduled to approve the Mobile Gun System for Low Rate Initial Production in August of this year.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 67,600 people worldwide and had 2003 revenue of $16.6 billion. The company has leading market positions in land and amphibious combat systems, mission critical information systems and technologies, shipbuilding and marine systems, and business aviation.
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Any "forward-looking statements" contained in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
General Dynamics Corporation (ticker: GD, exchange: NYSE)
News Release - Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Press Contact: (586) 825-7930
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