General Dynamics Awarded $5 Million to Develop Automated Storage and Retrieval System for U.S. Navy
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was awarded a $4.8 million contract from the Advanced Technology Institute (Charleston, S.C.) through the Office of Naval Research (Arlington, Va.) to develop a land-based demonstrator of technology for the Automated Storage and Retrieval System, an automatic warehouse system designed to be used aboard ships.
The Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) will accept a palletized load from a fork truck, automatically identify the load through radio frequency identification (RFID), verify load size and weight, and then securely stow the load within the hold of a ship. This next-generation, low-maintenance storage and retrieval technology will allow the automatic inventory and total asset visibility of all materiel within the hold, greatly improving shipboard efficiency and reducing the need for dedicated manpower. The ASRS design will be adaptable to a wide variety of ships and hold configurations.
Following successful completion of the land-based demonstrator in February 2006, the U.S. Navy will then have the opportunity to fund the testing of the demonstrator installed on a vessel at sea. The ASRS technology development project is in direct support of the Navy’s Seabasing goals.
This contract award for detailed design and fabrication is the fourth ASRS contract received by General Dynamics. The company received its first ASRS contract in June 2002 for feasibility studies and early conceptual design work. Total ASRS contract value to date is $6.6 million.
As prime contractor and leader of this effort to develop and demonstrate an ASRS system on land in a simulated ship-motion environment, General Dynamics will provide systems engineering, performance analysis, design and manufacturing support, and overall ship integration guidance. Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems (Grand Rapids, Mich.), a world leader in supplying commercial automated material handling systems, will serve as subcontractor responsible for overall design and manufacture of the ASRS land-based demonstrator. San Diego-based subcontractor National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, will provide system-level drawings, requirement analysis support, and ship integration analysis. NASSCO also builds the Navy’s T-AKE combat logistics force ship, which is representative of the ships that the ASRS technology will ultimately equip.
General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, located in Charlotte, N.C., provides a broad range of system solutions for military applications. The company designs, develops and produces high-performance armament systems; a full range of advanced composite-based products; biological and chemical detection systems; and mobile shelter systems. More information about General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products can be found on the World Wide Web at www.gdatp.com.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 70,100 people worldwide and had 2004 revenue of $19.2 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 - Monday, June 20, 2005
Press Contact: (704) 714-8014
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