General Dynamics

History

1899–1920

Isaac Leopold Rice bought the Holland Torpedo Boat Company from John Philip Holland in 1899. Holland continued to work at the company as chief engineer and the company was renamed Electric Boat Company. Electric Boat was responsible for designing and building the USS Holland, purchased by the United States Navy in 1900 for $150,000 (roughly $5.75M in 2025).

Electric Boat also sold modified Holland-class and Plunger-class submarines to the British Royal Navy through the English armaments company Vickers as well as to Japan and Russia. In 1906, Electric Boat won contracts to design C-class submarines but subcontracted the construction to the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.

When Holland died in 1914, Lawrence Spear (who replaced him as chief engineer) redesigned the Holland submarine. The redesign replaced the submarine's observation dome with a conning tower, a periscope, and first-of-its-kind torpedo tubes.

In 1911, Electric Boat acquired the New London Ship and Engine Company in Groton, Connecticut, to build parts for submarines, diesel engines, and commercial ships. Isaac Rice died in 1915 and was replaced by his associate Henry Carse. Carse expanded the company with the purchase of several companies, including Electro Dynamics, Elco Motor Yacht, and New London Ship & Engine of Groton, Connecticut. Following the acquisitions, the company was renamed Submarine Boat Corporation. During World War I, the company received orders from the U.S. Navy to build 85 submarines, 722 submarine chasers, and 118 surface ships.

1921–1940

In 1924, the Peruvian government ordered two submarines built at the New London Ship & Engine shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. In 1925, Carse reorganized the company, emphasized production of surface ships, and brought back the Electric Boat Company. In 1933, Electric Boat expanded its presence in Groton, Connecticut, by acquiring a second shipyard to build submarines. The USS Cuttlefish was the first submarine built at the Groton Shipyard. In the early 1930s, the U.S. government placed orders for submarines and PT (patrol/torpedo) boats from Electric Boat facilities at Groton and the Elco plant in New Jersey, respectively. Lawrence Spear retired in 1937, replaced by John Jay Hopkins. Hopkins led the company's strong re-emergence as a shipbuilder in World War II.

1941–1960

During World War II, Electric Boat and its Elco Yacht and Electro Dynamic subsidiaries mobilized full-capacity production. The sudden production expansion led to a labor shortage, and women filled the open jobs as welders and riveters. During World War II, Electric Boat produced 74 submarines and 398 PT boats. When the war ended in 1945, the Navy reduced its orders for new vessels, and the company reduced its workforce from 13,000 to 4,000.

Electric Boat diversified at the end of WWII, so John Jay Hopkins acquired the Canadian government-owned Canadair for $10 million in 1946. The factory alone was worth more than $22 million, according to the Canadian government's calculations, excluding the value of the remaining contracts for planes or spare parts. However, Canadair's production line and inventory systems were in disorder when Electric Boat purchased the company. Hopkins hired Canadian-born mass-production specialist H. Oliver West to take over the president's role and return Canadair to profitability. Shortly after the takeover, Canadair began delivering its new Canadair North Star (a version of the Douglas DC-4) and was able to deliver aircraft to Trans-Canada Airlines, Canadian Pacific Airlines, and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) well in advance of their contracted delivery times.

Defense spending increased with the onset of the Cold War, and Canadair went on to win many Canadian military contracts for the Royal Canadian Air Force and became a major aerospace company. These included Canadair CT-133 Silver Star trainer, the Canadair Argus long-range maritime reconnaissance and transport aircraft, and the Canadair F-86 Sabre. Between 1950 and 1958, 1,815 Sabres were built. Canadair also produced 200 CF-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft, a license-built version of the Lockheed F-104.

In 1951, the company was awarded the contract to build the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN571). The submarine was launched in 1954.

Aircraft production became increasingly important at Canadair, and Hopkins argued that the name "Electric Boat" was no longer appropriate. In 1952, Hopkins reorganized Electric Boat as a holding company, General Dynamics Corporation, with Electric Boat and Canadair as major subsidiaries.

1961–1980

In 1961, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara initiated the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) program to develop a single aircraft design for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. General Dynamics and Boeing were selected to submit updated designs. McNamara selected General Dynamics' proposal due to the greater commonality between its versions. The Boeing aircraft shared less than half of the major structural components. The F-111's design pioneered variable-sweep wings, after-burning turbofan engines, and automated terrain-following radar for low-level, high-speed flight. General Dynamics continued to develop its version of the F-111 at the former Convair facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The company built 563 F-111s.

In 1962, Roger Lewis was appointed Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics. In 1963, General Dynamics purchased the Quincy Shipbuilding Works from Bethlehem Steel. In 1965, General Dynamics reorganized into 12 operating divisions based on product lines. In 1967, Electric Boat launched the USS Sturgeon (SSN637), the lead ship in the Sturgeon class of attack submarines. In 1970, the board replaced Roger Lewis with former McDonnell Douglas president David S. Lewis as Chief Executive Officer. David S. Lewis relocated the company headquarters to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1971. Later that year, Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding were awarded contracts to co-manufacture the Los Angeles-class submarines. In 1972, Electric Boat received contracts for the design and development of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine. Electric Boat also developed a new modular process to build the 560-foot submarines; the process remains the industry standard. Construction of the flagship Los Angeles-class attack submarine began the same year. In 1973, General Dynamics established the Quonset Point Facility in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, to provide off-site manufacturing support for the Groton facility. Production began the following year.

The U.S. Air Force initiated the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program to develop a new fighter aircraft that met the requirements of Major John Boyd's "energy-maneuverability" theory. General Dynamics organized its own version of Lockheed's Skunk Works, the Advanced Concepts Laboratory, and responded with a new aircraft design incorporating advanced technologies. General Dynamics submitted a design in 1972 for a new lightweight fighter, the YF-16. The YF-16 first flew in January 1974 and proved slightly better performance than the Northrop Grumman YF-17 in head-to-head testing. General Dynamics YF-16 was selected as the first Lightweight Fighter for the U.S. Air Force. It entered production as the F-16 Fighting Falcon in January 1975 with an initial order of 650 and 1,388. The F-16 also won contracts worldwide, beating the F-17 in foreign competition. General Dynamics built an aircraft production factory in Fort Worth, Texas to fulfill the contracts, and F-16 orders eventually totaled more than 4,600, making it the company's largest aircraft program.

1981–2000

In 1980, Electric Boat’s automated frame and cylinder facility at Quonset Point became fully operational. The automated frame and cylinder facility enabled the modular construction of nuclear-powered submarines.

When General Dynamics purchased Chrysler Defense, Inc., the division was renamed General Dynamics Land Systems.

In 1985, a further reorganization created the Space Systems Division from the Convair Space Division. Later that year, the company also acquired Cessna. In 1986, the General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division was closed.

Henry Crown, still General Dynamics's largest shareholder, died on August 15, 1990. After his death, the company began rapidly divesting its underperforming divisions under CEO William Anders. The company divested Data Systems Division, Cessna, its Electronics Division, and Missile Division.

In 1991, Electric Boat was awarded the contract to build the second Seawolf submarine (SSN 22), later named Connecticut. Cessna was re-sold to Textron in January 1992, the San Diego and Pomona missile production units were sold to General Motors-Hughes Aerospace in May 1992, the Fort Worth aircraft production to Lockheed in March 1993 (a nearby electronics production facility was separately sold to Israeli-based Elbit Systems, marking that company's entry into the US market), and its Space Systems Division to Martin Marietta in 1994. The remaining Convair Aircraft Structure unit was sold to McDonnell Douglas in 1994. The Convair Division was simply closed in 1996.

In July 1993 The Pentagon hosted a dinner, later dubbed the Last Supper (defense industry), which was attended by representatives of 51 major United States defense contractors to discuss industry consolidationafter the end of the Cold War. After the dinner, the industry consolidated into the "Big Five". By following the Pentagon’s directive to consolidate, General Dynamics focused its businesses on two specific areas, Land Systems (tanks) and Marine Systems (submarines). The company eventually became the sole provider for the M1 Abrams tank and one of only two primary builders of nuclear submarines.

In 1995, General Dynamics purchased the privately-held Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine, for $300 million, diversifying its shipbuilding portfolio to include U.S. Navy surface ships such as guided-missile destroyers. In 1998, the company acquired NASSCO, formerly National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, for $415 million. The San Diego shipyard produces U.S. Navy auxiliary and support ships as well as commercial ships that are eligible to be U.S.-flagged under the Jones Act.

2001-2020

In 2001, the company purchased Spain’s Santa Barbara Sistemas, part of broader expansion into the European market. In 2003, the company acquired the Austrian vehicle manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug, adding it to the newly established General Dynamics European Land Systems business unit.

In 2003, General Dynamics purchased the defense divisions of General Motors, adding them to the General Dynamics Land Systems business unit. Having divested itself of its aviation holdings, GD had concentrated on land and sea products. GD had purchased Chrysler's defense divisions in 1982, renaming them General Dynamics Land Systems. In 2003, it purchased the defense divisions of General Motors as well. It became a major supplier of armored vehicles of all types, including the M1 Abrams, LAV 25, Stryker, and a wide variety of vehicles based on these chassis.

In 2004, General Dynamics bid for the UK company Alvis plc, the leading British manufacturer of armored vehicles. In March the board of Alvis Vickers voted in favor of the £309m takeover. However at the last minute BAE Systems offered £355m for the company. This deal was finalized in June 2004.

In 2008, General Dynamics acquired Jet Aviation, becoming a business unit within the company. In the same year, General Dynamics resolved claims that its General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products subsidiary fraudulently billed the government for parts used in Navy and Air Force aircraft and submarines, and agreed to settle the charges by paying $4 million to the US government. On August 19, 2008, GD agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the US Government claiming that a GD unit fraudulently billed the government for defectively manufactured parts used in US military aircraft and submarines. The US alleged that GD defectively manufactured or failed to test parts used in US military aircraft from September 2001 to August 2003, such as for the C-141 Starlifter transport plane. The GD unit involved, based in Glen Cove, New York, had closed in 2004.

In 2010, the US Navy restarted the Arleigh Burke Class destroyer program. The ship's contract awards alternated between Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding. In the same year, the US Navy awarded Bath Iron Works all three ships in the DDG 1000 program.

2021–present

In November 2021, Norway's KLP fund divested from General Dynamics, citing the production of depleted uranium munitions by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc. and General Dynamics Mission Systems' full life cycle support for strategic nuclear ballistic guidance and weapon control systems.

According to a report by Reuters, General Dynamics was the primary contractor for a United States military-run propaganda campaign to spread disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, including using fake social media accounts to spread the disinformation that the Sinovac vaccine contained pork-derived ingredients and was therefore haram under Islamic law. The campaign primarily targeted people in the Philippines and used a social media hashtag for "China is the virus" in Tagalog. The campaign ran from the spring of 2020 to mid-2021. In 2024, General Dynamics IT was awarded a $493 million contract by The Pentagon. According to an unnamed source cited by Reuters, a military audit of General Dynamics's work on the project concluded that the company had engaged in sloppy tradecraft and took inadequate precautions to conceal the origins of the fake accounts created for the campaign.

General Dynamics' supply of weapons to Israel in the Gaza war has led to protests at facilities in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Lincoln, Nebraska; Saco, Maine; New London, Connecticut; Red Lion, Pennsylvania;and Garland, Texas.

General Dynamics is the only company in the U.S. that makes the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series, the primary weapon type used in Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The MK-84, a munition within the MK-80 series, was reported to have been used by Israel against Palestinian civilians.

Operations

The company's Gulfstream Aerospace division (23% of 2024 revenues) produces business jets including the Gulfstream G650/G700/G800 series and offers business aircraft services under Jet Aviation. The company's marine systems division (30% of 2024 revenues) designs and builds nuclear submarines and includes Bath Iron Works, General Dynamics Electric Boat, and National Steel and Shipbuilding Company. The company's combat systems division (19% of 2024 revenues) includes General Dynamics Land Systems, General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS), Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and Santa Bárbara Sistemas, and produces Phalanx CIWS, Expeditionary tanks, the M1 Abrams series main battle tank, Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles, M104 Wolverine, LAV III, Stryker armoured fighting vehicles, XM2001 Crusader self-propelled howitzer, GAU-17 (Minigun), GAU-19, ASCOD AFV, Pandur II, Mowag (including Mowag Duro, Mowag Eagle, and Mowag Piranha), Leopard 2E, and Scout SV. The company's technologies division (28% of 2024 revenues) includes General Dynamics Mission Systems and provides services such as consulting, mission-support, mobile communication, computers, command-and-control and cyber (C5) mission systems, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It is modernizing the information technology systems of the United States Central Command and for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Acquisitions timeline

Corporate affairs

Corporate governance

General Dynamics current chairman and chief executive officer is Phebe Novakovic.

As of December 2022.

Financials

As of January 2023.

Carbon emissions

General Dynamics reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for 2021 at 696,118 mt (-8.7% year over year) and aims to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2034. The company is on track to become carbon neutral before 2060.

Company demographics

In 2021, General Dynamics's U.S. workforce was 21% veterans, 23% female, and 27% people of color. The US Department of Labor awarded the company the 2021 HIRE Vets Gold Award. The company has 26 Employee Resource Groups serving 10 employee segments. Approximately 20% of the company's employees are represented by labor unions such as International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), The International Union, and United Auto Workers (UAW). Independent research published by American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), U.S. Department of Labor, Military Times, U.S. Veterans Magazine, Professional Women's Magazine, Forbes, and Fortune selected General Dynamics as a top employer. General Dynamics' community contributions in 2021 were 70% in Education & Social Services, 18% in Arts & Culture, and 12% in Service Member Support.