General Dynamics Land Systems

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is a manufacturer of military vehicles such as tanks and lighter armored fighting vehicles.

General Dynamics Land Systems
IndustryDefense
PredecessorForce Protection Inc Edit this on Wikidata
FoundedMarch 7, 1982
HeadquartersSterling Heights, Michigan,
US
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsDefense
ParentGeneral Dynamics
Websitewww.gdls.com

History

In February 1982 Chrysler announced the sale of Chrysler Defense, its profitable defense subsidiary, to General Dynamics for US$348.5 million. The sale was completed in March 1982 for the revised figure of US$336.1 million.[1] Renamed General Dynamics Land Systems, the division operates the Lima Army Tank Plant and General Dynamics Anniston Operations in Anniston, Alabama, along with smaller operations in Tallahassee, Florida, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. Headquarters are located in Sterling Heights, Michigan. As of 2016, General Dynamics Land Systems employed 6,800 people.[2]

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada

In 2003 it acquired Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH (SSF), the land defense vehicles unit of Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C), a subsidiary of General Dynamics based in London, Ontario, purchased General Motors Diesel's GM Defense unit from General Motors. It supplies such armored vehicles as the LAV-25, the Stryker, and other models based on these chassis. The London operation is located at GM Diesel's old plant on Oxford Street East.[3] SSF merged into the General Dynamics European Land Systens (GDELS) unit.

After the division secured a fourteen-year, $15-billion deal to supply light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia,[4] Unifor representatives expressed concern that the London plant would suffer financially due to negative publicity surrounding the deal and that union members employed at the plant would lose their jobs.[4] Both Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe and New Democrat Thomas Mulcair challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the secrecy surrounding military sales to Saudi Arabia,[4] while David Perry, senior analyst with the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, argued that secrecy in trade details is part of a pragmatic foreign trade policy necessary for a domestic industry in a global market.[4]

Vehicles

References


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