General Dynamics Awarded $13 Million to Continue Developing Maritime Air and Missile Defense Planning System

FAIRFAX, Va. , Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a contract valued at up to $13.5 million for engineering services in support of the Maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defense Planning System (MIPS), a successor to the AADC Area Air Defense Commander Capability (AADC). General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

MIPS is an operational-level planning tool designed to help the Joint Force Maritime Component Commander rapidly analyze and optimize alternatives for defeating current or projected air and missile threats. MIPS uses advanced algorithms to predict the outcomes of various scenarios and interactions of military forces, to allow the commander to visualize enemy courses of action, and to help determine the most effective way to counter those actions.

General Dynamics has been developing MIPS and sustaining a limited fleet capability for five years. Under this new contract, General Dynamics will update the existing software models to address new threat and weapon characteristics. General Dynamics will also migrate that software to a new computing platform that will overcome the hardware obsolescence issues that face the existing fleet capability and conforms to the Navy's Open Architecture Computing Environment standards.

Mike Tweed-Kent , vice president and general manager of integrated combat systems for General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, said, "MIPS is an example of how General Dynamics is developing advanced hardware and software technology in an open architecture and open business environment to quickly and efficiently respond to critical fleet needs."

Work will be performed in Virginia Beach and Fair Lakes, Va., and is expected to be completed by July 2010 .

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 http://www.gd-ais.com.

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.

SOURCE General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems