General Dynamics Awarded $43 Million to Continue Producing Advanced Mission Computers for Navy F-18 Aircraft

Dec. 20, 2007

FAIRFAX, Va., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command has awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a $43 million contract modification to continue producing advanced mission computers for new and currently operational F-18 aircraft. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

The F-18 advanced mission computer (AMC) is a ruggedized, high- performance/high-reliability mission and display-processing system. This multi-functional processing system is built upon a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS), open systems architecture and is configurable to any operating environment. It performs general purpose, input/output, video, voice and graphics processing and is designed to operate reliably in the extreme environmental conditions of today's high-performance fighter aircraft.

Work under this contract includes the production of AMC Type 3 variants for the F/A-18E, F/A-18F, and EA-18G model aircraft. The AMC Type 3 is the latest of three generations of processors developed by General Dynamics for the F-18. It utilizes the most current PowerPC-based open systems processor for twice the processing power of previous configurations. AMC Type 3 also incorporates image processing system modules manufactured by Honeywell that provide commonality for various aircraft display requirements.

"Our commitment to continuous improvement enables us to deliver quality advanced mission computers that are highly reliable while achieving year-over- year cost improvement," said Mike Tweed-Kent, vice president and general manager of integrated combat systems for General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.

Work under this contract modification will be performed in Bloomington, Minn. Deliveries will begin in January 2009 and are expected to be completed by December 2009 .

This award modifies a contract originally awarded in May 2007 . Including this modification, the cumulative value of the contract is $94.7 million. The award includes optional quantities of computers worth up to an additional $9.2 million.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, operates and maintains mission systems for defense, space, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, homeland security and homeland defense customers. Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., the company specializes in ground systems; imagery processing; mission payloads; space vehicles; maritime subsurface, surface and airborne mission systems; and tasking, collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination programs for national intelligence. More information is available on the Internet at www.gd-ais.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 83,000 people worldwide and anticipates 2007 revenues of more than $27 billion. More information about the company is available online at www.generaldynamics.com.

SOURCE General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems

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