U.S. Army Orders Vehicles to Complete Fourth Stryker Brigade
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – The U.S. Army yesterday added vehicles to complete a fourth brigade of Stryker wheeled combat vehicles from General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD). The additional order for 116 Stryker combat vehicles (106 infantry carriers and 10 engineer squad vehicles) is valued at $163 million.
In March the Army ordered 212 vehicles, valued at $282.4 million, for the fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team. This new order tops-off the brigade’s Stryker vehicles and triggers a vehicle price provision with associated cost savings to the U.S. government. Deliveries of the 328 vehicles will occur between February 2005 and February 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 more than 2,100 Stryker armored vehicles.
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, completed a series of Force Development Exercises in February-March and a Limited User Test in May. The Army is scheduled to approve the Mobile Gun System for Low Rate Initial Production in September of this year.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 68,400 people worldwide and anticipates 2004 revenue of $19 billion. The company is a market leader in mission-critical information systems and technologies; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; 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 - Thursday, June 24, 2004
Press Contact: (586) 825-7930
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