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On the list of Pentagon weapons programs gone awry, the Navy's A-12 Avenger attack jet stands out. The radar-evading, carrier-based McDonnell Douglas plane was 18 months behind schedule and about $1.4 billion over cost when then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney canceled the $57 billion program back in 1991. The case over the triangular-shaped A-12 Avenger, which was dubbed the "Flying Dorito," has been in legal limbo ever since, going all the way to the Supreme Court in 2011 before being referred back to a lower court. Now, after 22 years, a settlement is on the horizon. Senator Susan Collins told the...

General Dynamics to beat out Germany for Saudi tank deal-report (Reuters) - U.S. defence firm General Dynamics is in talks to deliver battle tanks to Saudi Arabia, beating out German rival Krauss-Maffei Wegmann for the lucrative deal, a German newspaper reported. Handelsblatt daily cited industry sources as saying on Friday that a deal for Saudi Arabia to buy M1 Abrams tanks from General Dynamics was already in sight. General Dynamics and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann were not immediately available for comment. There has been speculation for months that Saudi Arabia could order more than 200 Leopard 2 tanks from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, though...

General Dynamics Information Technology has received a federal contract to provide customer support services for the federal Affordable Care Act that will add about 120 jobs at the company’s Coralville call center. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, joined company representatives Monday to announce the contract from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The contract also will add “several thousand” jobs at General Dynamics Information Technology call centers in other states, according to an aide to Loebsack. Mark Meudt, vice president of General Dynamics Information Technology, said the Coralville call center at 2450 Oakdale Blvd. employs about 600. He said...

SNIP Hagel, however, has friends in Democratic lobbying circles. The powerful Washington D.C. organization known as the Podesta Group is reportedly asking defense contractors for financial support to run ads defending the Hagel nomination. Fox News White House Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry reported on Friday: (2:15 in) "Sources confirm to Fox [that] Democratic super lobbyist Tony Podesta has been hired by a firm known as the Bipartisan Group to help mobilize support for Hagel. And defense contractors received calls this week urging them to be ready for a Hagel pick as soon as Monday, and asking them for...

The manufacturer of the eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles that make up the backbone of the Army’s fleet at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is unveiling new models of at a conference this week, including ones that would have run counter to their initial purpose as a rapidly deployable medium weight infantry carrier. General Dynamics is pitching the new models as a path for the Army to improve its vehicle fleet without spending billions of dollars designing new options. One of the new models is a tracked Stryker that weighs some 42 tons – 22 tons more than an off-the-floor, basic Stryker infantry carrier.*...

General Dynamics Proposes Piranha 5 for the Close Combat Vehicle Program (Source: General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada; issued August 29, 2011) LONDON, Ontario --- General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada announced today that it will offer the PIRANHA 5 vehicle fitted with Rheinmetall's LANCE 30mm Modular Turret System for the Government of Canada's Close Combat Vehicle (CCV) Program. The goal of the CCV program is to deliver a well-protected armoured vehicle with very high tactical mobility, able to deliver an infantry section in close combat, while operating in intimate support of main battle tanks. In response, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada is leading an...

The U.S. Navy has discovered "aggressive" corrosion in Austal Ltd.'s first new combat ship designed for operating close to shore. The corrosion is in the propulsion areas of the USS Independence, the Littoral Combat Ship built by the Mobile, Alabama-based subsidiary of Australia's Austal and General Dynamics Corp. "This could be a very serious setback," said Norman Polmar, an independent naval analyst and author in Alexandria, Virginia. "If the ship develops a serious flaw, you're not going to continue producing them." Permanent repair will require drydocking the ship and removing its "water jets,". Aluminum-hulled ships such as Austal's tend to...

The last of the 14 Lewis and Clark-class cargo ships that General Dynamics NASSCO is building in San Diego will be named after Cesar Chavez, the late civil rights and labor leader. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus will visit NASSCO on Tuesday afternoon to make the formal announcement. Some members of the Chavez family are expected to be in attendance, says NASSCO, which recently laid the keel of the ship. "We suggested the name Cesar Chavez for the ship because we're in Barrio Logan and want to be good neighbors, and we want to show respect for our workers,"...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Navy is considering naming a cargo ship that's being built after farmworker activist Cesar Chavez. James Gill, a spokesman for General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, said Monday the company suggested the name to honor its mostly Hispanic work force and the mostly Hispanic neighborhood, Barrio Logan, where the boat builder is located.

Pentagon Reports Billions of Dollars in Contractor Fraud The Pentagon paid hundreds of billions of dollars to defense contractors engaged in criminal or civil fraud -- in some cases paying the companies after they were convicted, according to a new Defense Department report. At least 91 contractors holding contracts worth $270 billion were the subjects of civil fraud judgments -- and in some cases CRIMINAL FRAUD convictions as well, many of which resulted in fines, suspensions or debarments. Even so, Defense Department contracting officers still assigned $4.9 billion worth of work with these companies after the fraud was uncovered, the...

Should the government be allowed to declare a contractor in default and then invoke a secrecy privilege to withhold information the contractor says it needs to dispute that finding in court? Two decades after the Pentagon canceled the Navy’s A-12 Avenger II stealth aircraft, the fight over who is at fault for the program’s delays and cost overruns has brought that question before the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, justices on the court sharply questioned lawyers on both sides of the dispute. The court’s ruling, which is expected before the 2010-11 term ends in June, could have broad implications for...

Spain and Saudi Arabia negotiate 3 billion euro arms deal Interest in the tanks date back to a visit by King Juan Carlos to Jeddah in 2008, since when there have been regular contacts between the Spanish manufacturers and the Saudi Defence ministry. Spain and Saudi Arabia negotiate 3 billion euro arms deal Spain is negotiating with Saudi Arabia what could become its biggest ever arms deal, the daily El Pais said Monday Spain is trying to conclude a 3 billion euro ($4.17 billion) arms deal with Saudi Arabia for American defense group General Dynamics Corp's Spanish affiliate, El Pais...

General Dynamics to develop Namer APC for IDF By YAAKOV KATZ 10/24/2010 01:36 Move will increase the survivability of Israeli military forces; Israel in negotiations with several countries over Merkava sale Production will begin soon in the US of the IDF’s new Namer (leopard in Hebrew, pronounced nah-mer) armored personnel carrier (APC) after the Defense Ministry awarded General Dynamics a massive tender to develop the vehicle. The move is poised to increase the survivability of Israeli military forces, At the cutting edge of APC technology and claimed to be one-of-its-kind in the world by officers in the Ground Forces Command,...

The stakes could not be higher. When the Navy later this year picks a winner to build its littoral combat ship, no matter which contractor is selected, the decision will be seen as a turning point for the troubled program. For the Navy, it will be a chance to prove it can acquire relatively affordable ships. When LCS was first conceived earlier this decade, it was supposed to cost $220 million, but the price tag eventually more than doubled. Now, with a new acquisition strategy, Navy officials are hopeful that they can carry the program through, and procure 66 ships...

USS Freedom (LCS 1), the Navy's first littoral combat ship (LCS), arrived at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., Jan. 26 to begin final preparations for her maiden deployment. While in Mayport, Freedom will undergo final counterillicit trafficking and airborne use of force training and certification in preparation for expected missions in the U.S. Southern Command/Commander, U.S. 4th Fleet Area of Responsibility. Readying for this deployment was a unique process for Freedom's Sailors. Starting in November 2009, Freedom engaged in independent training and certification exercises off the Virginia and Florida coasts, including maritime security surge training for both the Blue and Gold...

The Navy's future success depends on acquiring flexible and affordable weapons systems that can quickly switch missions depending on the threat, said Admiral Gary Roughead, the Navy's chief officer. Affordability and flexibility are critical given that the demand for the Navy's services has increased at a time when it also must cut costs, he said. This means controlling the urge to add new "bells or whistles" to existing programs, increasing the efficiency of maintaining ships and keeping the new F-35 fighter jet program on schedule, according to a Reuters article. "The stuff that we buy is going to be around...

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2009 – A recent agreement among the Defense Department, the Navy and shipbuilders will enable more efficient construction of the next-generation destroyer at one shipyard instead of two, a senior Defense Department official announced here today. The “swap” agreement calls for three DDG-1000 destroyers to be built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, John J. Young Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, told reporters at the Pentagon. Work on the DDG-1000 destroyers previously was to be split between General Dynamics’ Bath Works and Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls Shipyard in Mississippi, Young said. As part...

May 15, 2008 With naval battles on the high seas now virtually extinct for the U.S. armed forces, the navy's role has become more one of infantry invasion and airstrike support - and with this new role comes a need for vessels more suited to littoral (just offshore) operations. The initial order was placed back in 2005, and the first delivery, the U.S.S. Independence, has just been launched, a speedy trimaran with helicopter decks, a stealthy radar profile and a healthy array of arms. It's configurable to suit a wide array of littoral combat missions, including minesweeping, anti-submarine and surface...

I have no idea how GenDynamics is doing, but this first ship looks absolutley wicked! Its tri-maran hull combined with the capabilities and look of a warship makes it something out of this world!

Obama credits his presidential campaign with creating a "parallel public financing system" built on a wave of modest donations from homemakers and high school teachers. Small givers, he said at a fundraiser this week But those with wealth and power also have played a critical role in creating Obama's record-breaking fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign. Seventynine "bundlers," five of them billionaires, have tapped their personal networks to raise at least $200,000 each. They have helped the campaign recruit more than 27,000 donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed....