General Dynamics

• 1. Foundations And Early Submarines

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  Isaac Leopold Rice bought the Holland Torpedo Boat Company from John Philip Holland in 1899. This transaction marked the beginning of what would become a century-long defense empire. The company was renamed Electric Boat Company, and Holland continued to work there as chief engineer. In 1900, the United States Navy purchased one of their submarines for $150,000. That sum equates to roughly $5.75 million in modern currency. Electric Boat also sold modified Holland-class and Plunger-class submarines to the British Royal Navy through Vickers. They supplied vessels to Japan and Russia as well. Lawrence Spear redesigned the Holland submarine after Holland died in 1914. His redesign replaced the 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. Isaac Rice died in 1915 and was replaced by his associate Henry Carse. During World War I, the company received orders to build 85 submarines, 722 submarine chasers, and 118 surface ships.

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• 2. Cold War Expansion And Diversification

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  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 Canadian government calculations. Hopkins hired H. Oliver West to take over the president's role and return Canadair to profitability. Between 1950 and 1958, 1,815 Sabres were built at the facility. In 1951, the company won the contract to build the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus. The submarine was launched in 1954. In 1952, Hopkins established General Dynamics Corporation as a parent company holding Electric Boat and Canadair. In 1953, General Dynamics purchased Convair from the Atlas Group. This sale required government oversight with provisions that GD would continue operating out of Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth, Texas. Convair developed the F-106 Delta Dart interceptor and the B-58 Hustler bomber. They also created the Atlas missile, which became the U.S.'s first operational intercontinental ballistic missile. Henry Crown merged his Material Service Corporation with General Dynamics in 1959. He became the company's largest shareholder.

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• 3. The Fighter Jet Era And Strategic Shifts

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  Roger Lewis was appointed Chairman and CEO of General Dynamics in 1962. David S. Lewis replaced him as Chief Executive Officer in 1970. The YF-16 first flew in January 1974 and proved slightly better performance than the Northrop Grumman YF-17. It entered production as the F-16 Fighting Falcon in January 1975 with an initial order of 650 aircraft. F-16 orders eventually totaled more than 4,600 units. Henry Crown died on the 15th of August 1990. Following this event, the company started to rapidly divest its under-performing divisions under CEO William Anders. Cessna was re-sold to Textron in January 1992. The Fort Worth aircraft production went to Lockheed in March 1993. The Space Systems Division was sold to Martin Marietta in 1994. In 1999, the company acquired Gulfstream Aerospace. This move marked a return to aviation after exiting the fighter jet market. GD concentrated on land and sea products following these divestitures.

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• 4. Modern Defense Portfolio And Global Reach

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  In 1995, General Dynamics purchased the privately held Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine for $300 million. The San Diego shipyard produces U.S. Navy auxiliary and support ships as well as commercial ships eligible for U.S.-flagging under the Jones Act. In 1997, General Dynamics acquired Computing Devices Ltd based in Hastings, England. It developed avionics and mission systems for the Panavia Tornado and British Aerospace Harrier II. The company now operates eight sites across the United Kingdom. In 2004, General Dynamics bid for the UK company Alvis plc with an offer of £309 million. BAE Systems offered £355m instead and finalized the deal in June 2004. On the 19th of August 2008, GD agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit regarding defectively manufactured parts used in US military aircraft and submarines. The unit involved was based in Glen Cove, New York and closed in 2004. In December 2020, the board announced a regular quarterly dividend of $1.10 payable on the 5th of February 2021.

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• 5. Corporate Governance And Financial Performance

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  Phebe Novakovic serves as current chairman and chief executive officer of General Dynamics. As of January 2023, the company had 106,500 employees. Revenue reached $39,407 million in 2022. Net income stood at $3,390 million that same year. Assets totaled $51,585 million. In 2024, 69% of revenue came from the federal government of the United States. Another 14% came from U.S. commercial customers. Non-U.S. government customers accounted for 10% while non-U.S. commercial customers made up 7%. The company is ranked 96th on the Fortune 100 and 242nd on the Forbes Global 2000. It receives over 3% of total spending by the federal government of the United States on contractors. James Crown serves as Lead Director on the board. Jim Mattis joined the board again in August 2019 after previously resigning before becoming Secretary of Defense.

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• 6. Ethical Controversies And Public Scrutiny

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  In 2014, the government of Canada selected the General Dynamics Land Systems subsidiary in London, Ontario to produce Light Armoured Vehicles for Saudi Arabia. This was part of a $10 billion deal with the Canadian Commercial Corporation. Political opponents criticized the sale due to the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. On the 30th of January 2019, CEO Phebe Novakovic warned investors that Saudi Arabia was nearly $2 billion in arrears on its payments. In September 2018, it was announced that the U.S. Navy awarded contracts for 10 new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers from General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. Groups such as Code Pink and Green America accused the company of making money from human suffering through IT services contracts with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement. A Reuters report stated that General Dynamics was the primary contractor for a military-run propaganda campaign spreading disinformation about the Sinovac Chinese COVID-19 vaccine. The campaign targeted people in the Philippines using fake social media accounts. It ran from spring 2020 to mid-2021. Supplying weapons to Israel during the Gaza war led to protests at facilities in Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Lincoln, Nebraska; Saco, Maine; New London, Connecticut; Red Lion, Pennsylvania; and Garland, Texas.

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