General Dynamics UK is a British subsidiary of the American defence and security corporation

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

. Founded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1962, the company has grown to include eight sites across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, including in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, Oakdale and

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

. Specialising in armoured fighting vehicles, avionic systems and tactical communications, the company has produced the

General Dynamics Ajax The Ajax, formerly known as the Scout SV (Specialist Vehicle), is a group of armoured fighting vehicles being developed by General Dynamics UK for the British Army. The Ajax is a development of the ASCOD armoured fighting vehicles used by the ...

armoured fighting vehicle, the

Ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

light protected patrol vehicle and the Bowman communications system. It is one of the UK's leading defence companies and a key supplier to the UK

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

History

The company was originally founded as Computing Devices, part of the General Dynamics Information Systems and Technology group, in 1962. In 1997, General Dynamics acquired Computing Devices Ltd which had been based in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, since 1974. The company was responsible for supplying avionics to the

Tornado GR1 The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inter ...

, Harrier GR7, Nimrod MR2 and

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

. These were praised for their effectiveness during both the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

and

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. More recently, the company provided avionics for the

AgustaWestland AW101 The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requirement ...

Mk3 and Mk4 and

AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat (previously called the Future Lynx and Lynx Wildcat) is a British military helicopter. It is an improved version of the Westland Super Lynx designed to serve in the battlefield utility, search and rescue and a ...

helicopters. In 2001, Computing Devices Canada (CDC) won a £1.7 billion contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to deliver Bowman, a communications system for the British Armed Forces, beating competing bids from

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

and TRW. The work was carried out at a newly-opened UK headquarters in Oakdale,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, and under the new name of General Dynamics UK Limited, having previously been known as CDC Systems UK Limited. The Bowman system was to equip some 20,000 vehicles, 149 naval vessels, 350 aircraft and 100,000 service personnel. It was successfully delivered from March 2004. In 2010, General Dynamics UK was awarded a contract to supply the British Army with a family of armoured fighting vehicles to meet the requirements of its

Future Rapid Effect System The Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) was the name for the overarching British Ministry of Defence (MOD) programme to deliver a fleet of more than 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles for the British Army. The vehicles were to be rapidly deployable, ...

(FRES) programme. As prime contractor, the company's bid centered around the

armoured fighting vehicle (previously known as Scout SV), a development of the

ASCOD The ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development) armoured fighting vehicle family is the product of a cooperation agreement between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG and Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas ( both companies are no ...

armoured fighting vehicle which was co-developed by another General Dynamics subsidiary, the Spanish-based

Santa Bárbara Sistemas Santa Bárbara Sistemas is a Spanish defense contractor based in Madrid, integrated under the ''European Land Systems'' of General Dynamics. It is one of the primary suppliers of the Military of Spain and is responsible for the assembly of heavy ve ...

. A total of 589 vehicles were to be produced in six variants, including turreted Ajax armoured reconnaissance variants, Ares armoured personnel carrier variants, Athena command and control variants, Argus engineer reconnaissance variants, Atlas recovery variants and Apollo repair variants. Manufacturing and assembly of the first 100 vehicles took place in Spain using steel supplied from Sweden, something the British government argued was not a major loss for British industry as the work for the remaining 489 vehicles was to be carried out in the United Kingdom. Subsequently, in 2016, General Dynamics UK opened an assembly, integration and testing facility for Ajax at a former forklift truck factory in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, where work on the remaining 489 vehicles was to take place. The first variant of the Ajax family, the Ares, was delivered to the British Army in July 2020. In 2011, General Dynamics acquired

Force Protection Inc Force Protection, Inc. was a manufacturer of ballistic- and blast-protected vehicles from the United States which have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and other hot spots around the world. The company was acquired by General Dynamics in 201 ...

and its UK-based subsidiary

Force Protection Europe Force Protection Europe (FPE) was the European subsidiary of Force Protection Inc, which was acquired by General Dynamics in 2011. The UK-based company developed the Ocelot (vehicle), Foxhound, a light-weight mine-protected military vehicle, wh ...

which had developed the

light protected vehicle, otherwise known as Foxhound in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. General Dynamics UK subsequently oversaw the delivery of Foxhound to the British Army and continues marketing the product. In 2016, the UK Ministry of Defence awarded an Assessment Phase contract for its Challenger 2 Life Extension Project (LEP) to Team Challenger 2, a consortium of companies lead by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

which included General Dynamics Land Systems - UK. The company's Merthyr Tydfil facility was to be used to bring the Challenger 2 up to Mark 2 standard. In 2017, General Dynamics UK was awarded a £330 million contract to supply the UK Ministry of Defence with tactical communication and information systems as part of its Morpheus programme.

Overview

General Dynamics UK Limited comprises two business units: General Dynamics Land Systems - UK and General Dynamics Mission Systems - UK.

Locations

General Dynamics UK has eight sites in a total of six locations in the United Kingdom: *

(Churchfields and Castleham) *

* Oakdale *

Products

* Bowman * Evolve to Open (EvO) * Avionics for

, Harrier GR7, Nimrod MR2,

Mk3 and Mk4,

References

External links

General Dynamics UK website
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom British subsidiaries of foreign companies Manufacturing companies established in 1962 Defence companies of the United Kingdom Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom 1962 establishments in England