Friday, October 10, 2008

Army signs on General Dynamics in $85M rocket deal

General Dynamics Corp.’s Armament and Technical Products subsidiary had landed $85 million from the U.S. Army for rockets and warheads.

Under the two orders, General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) will provide the Army’s Aviation and Missle Life Cycle Management Command with Hydra-70 rockets and warheads. The orders are part of a contract awarded in 2005 with a potential total value of $900 million, the company said. The company expects to start delivering the products in May 2010.

The project’s system engineering and program management will be performed at General Dynamics’ Burlington Technology Center in Vermont. Final assembly and component subassembly will occur at the company’s Camden, Ark., facility.

The Hydra-70 is an unguided rocket with a variety of warhead configurations. The rockets can be fired from a variety of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, including the U.S. Army Apache and U.S. Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopters, and the U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, according to General Dynamics.

Earlier this week, General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products unit landed two contracts worth $66 million from the Army to produce grenade launching machine guns.

Last week, General Dynamics’ Groton, Conn.-based Electric Boat subsidiary landed $268 million from the U.S. Navy for design services for nuclear-powered attack submarines.

General Dynamics, which employs about 83,500 workers and is headquartered in Falls Church, Va., reported profits of $2.07 billion on $27.2 billion in revenue for 2007.