GENERAL DYNAMICS

"Genocide Dynamics"?
	The principal arms manufacturer in Hastings is the UK branch of an American company - General Dynamics. It has about 200 employees in Hastings, on three sites. Their principal production facility is at 100 Castleham Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, TN38 9NJ. According to the latest ranking by SIPRI, General Dynamics is the sixth-largest arms company in the world.
The Origins of General Dynamics
John Phillip Holland	General Dynamics started out as the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, founded by John Phillip Holland, an Irish immigrant to the United States. His company built the US Navy's first submarine (1897). Owing to the delay in payments between ordering and delivering submarines, Holland ran short of capital and had to sell his company to a financier Isaac Leopold Rice, who renamed it the Electric Boat Company in 1899. Holland was demoted to chief engineer earning $90 a week, while his submarines were sold for $300,000 each. He left the company in 1904.
Expansion
A Holland submarine	During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), faithful to the traditions of the arms trade, the Electric Boat Company made a large profit by selling submarines to both the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Imperial Russian Navy! After World War II the company diversified, buying a Canadian aircraft company, and changing its name in 1952 to General Dynamics. The development of the F-111 and F-16 military aircraft established the company as a major arms manufacturer. General Dynamics now states that it "is a global aerospace and defence company... [it produces] submarines to wheeled combat vehicles to communications systems". The company is divided into four main divisions: aerospace, combat systems, IS&T (information systems and technology) and marine systems. Its "combat systems" division manufactures armoured vehicles, tanks, artillery and ammunition.
The Abrams Tank
	General Dynamics manufactures the Abrams Tank. They claim "the Abrams remains the top tank choice today for the U.S. Army, U.S. National Guard and the U.S. Marine Corps. It is also popular with several international armies, including Egypt, Kuwait, Australia and Iraq". Saudi Arabia is a major customer, to whom General Dynamics also supplies light armoured vehicles. Political objections to the latter deal may cost General Dynamics dearly. Experience in Ukraine suggests that the Abrams Tank may be excessively vulnerable
The Ajax Tank
	General Dynamics is also under contract to supply 589 AJAX armoured fighting vehicles to the British Army. According to MPs on the Public Accounts Committee in 2021, a total of £4bn had already been spent on the heavily delayed Ajax out of "whole life costs of £5.5bn," yet only 14 vehicles - 2% of the total requirement – had been delivered by General Dynamics for testing. The MoD had planned for the Ajax to initially enter service in the summer of 2021; but this date was not met and the issues over vibration and noise are so serious that 310 service personnel were undergoing tests to see if their hearing had been permanently damaged. These problems dated back to December 2018 but the MPs voiced concern that the MoD was still in the dark about the cause. "Despite the length of time the department has known about this issue, there is still no definitive information on the source of the noise and vibration," the PAC said.The future of the contract is dubious. See also the Sheldon Report on the Ajax programme and the Report of the House of Commons Defence Committee on Defence Procurement.
Warships
	In 2024 General Dynamics was commissioned to manufacture a new fleet of destroyers for the US Navy. It built the Ohio-class submarines which carry the US Navy strategic nuclear strike force missiles,including Trident, and is developing the 12 Ohio Replacement submarines which "will provide strategic deterrent capabilities well into the 2080s." Bath Iron Works is part of General Dynamics and specialises in the construction of warships. Bath Iron Works has been commissioned to install hypersonic missiles on three US destroyers. These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, and can be manoeuvered in flight to evade interception.
Drones
	General Dynamics has formed a partnership with the Israeli firm Elbit Systems to provide unmanned drones for US forces and to develop unmanned mortar systems. Elbit markets its weapons as battle-tested in attacks on Gaza.
Underwater Drones
	General Dynamics has acquired Bluefin Robotics, manufacturer of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), expanding its portfolio in the field of UUVs.
Nuclear Weaons
Dreadnought submarine	General Dynamics is involved in the production and maintenance of the Trident II for the US and UK. General Dynamics is also responsible for integrating the Trident missile in the new US Columbia-class program and the United Kingdom Dreadnought-class submarines. General Dynamics has for many years been involved in extending the lifecycle of the Trident II nuclear missiles of the US Navy. The submarine-launched Trident II missile is currently aboard US Ohio-class and British Vanguard-class submarines. The US plans to keep the Trident II missiles deployed until 2042. General Dynamics is part of the Northrop Grumman team planned to produce the new U.S. ground based ICBM system, the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.
Maladministration
	Note the record of General Dynamics in - financial irregularities immigrant detention payments to elected politicians
US Opposition to General Dynamics
	Environmentalists in Bath, Maine, are calling for the conversion of their local General Dynamics plant, Bath Iron Works, to peaceful production. Institutions and pension funds have been urged to divest from General Dynamics. The American Friends Service Committee has listed American companies, including General Dynamics, which have profited from the Israeli invasion of Gaza. See also general US critiques of General Dynamics
Canadian Opposition to General Dynamics
	Canadian politicians and trade unionists have campaigned against General Dynamics exports to Saudi Arabia in support of their war against the people of Yemen.
General Dynamics in Hastings
	General Dynamics plants in the UK are concentrated in areas of high unemployment - Hastings, Caerphilly, Chippenham and Merthyr Tydfil - where workers can be readily dismissed and replaced. About twenty years ago General Dynamics bought a Hastings company, Computing Devices Hastings Ltd, founded by William Charles Uttley-Moore. Uttley-Moore was briefly retained as CEO, but was soon replaced. The Hastings firm had been involved in the development of the Direct Voice Input (DVI) System for the Eurofighter/Typhoon. This was the earliest DVI unit in production for a military cockpit. It provided voice control over dozens of aircraft controls. According to the General Dynamics website, their Hastings site now provides avionic systems for the Eurofighter Typhoon, Tornado, AgustaWestland AW101 Mk 3 and Mk4 and AW159 Wildcat (Future Lynx) platforms, and tactical communications equipment for ground vehicles.
Read a whistle-blower's refusal to continue working for General Dynamics.