STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Army
TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems,
a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), a contract for the production
of 62 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS) variant vehicles. The contract has a
total potential value of $326.5 million including initial funding of
$145 million.
Work will be performed in Anniston, Ala.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; Lima,
Ohio; Scranton, Pa.; Tallahassee, Fla., and London, Ontario, Canada, and is
expected to be completed by February 2010.
The Stryker MGS variant is a direct-fire infantry assault platform with a
105mm cannon mounted in a low-profile, fully stabilized, 'shoot-on-the-move'
turret and integrated into the Stryker chassis. 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. It destroys vehicles, equipment and
hardened positions with its bunker and wall-breaching capability.
Stryker is a family of eight-wheel-drive combat vehicles that 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. In addition to the MGS, Stryker vehicle configurations
include: the nuclear, biological and chemical detection vehicle; anti-tank
guided missile and medical evacuation vehicles; and carriers for mortars,
engineer squads, command groups, and fire-support teams. The MGS has more
than 70 percent common components with the rest of the 310 Strykers that
comprise a brigade combat team, which eases the unit's training and logistics
burden.
Since being deployed to combat in 2007, the MGS vehicles have logged
79,000 miles, fired 600 main gun rounds, thousands of coax rounds and survived
numerous insurgent attacks and improvised explosive device (IED) detonations.
The Army has seven Stryker Brigade Combat Teams. 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 Brigade Combat Teams have operated with
'historically high' mission availability rates in Iraq since October 2003,
demonstrating the value of a force that can move rapidly as a cohesive and
networked combined-arms combat team.
General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs
approximately 84,600 people worldwide and anticipates 2008 revenues of
approximately $29.5 billion. The company is a market leader in business
aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions;
shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.
More information about the company is available on the Internet at
www.generaldynamics.com.
SOURCE General Dynamics Land Systems
