Latest news with #GeneralDynamicsLandSystems
Forbes
27-03-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Connected Tank Versus Connected Car
As the economy shifts and either businesses or people are considering the connected tank as another ... More vehicle for software and services, there are some similarities and significant differences between the two businesses. In a shifting economy, resources and businesses seek parallel verticals for either career opportunities or alternative sales markets. The auto industry might very well stand on the cliff of such a step-function change given geo-political events in the past two months. Per the AP News article entitled 'US Auto Industry Could Be Collateral Damage In Trump's Trade Wars' that quoted David Gantz, a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, 'The tariffs pose 'an existential threat' to North American auto production. They will push up the cost of everything that's imported from Mexico or Canada that goes into a car assembled in the U.S.'' Therein, those creating connected systems, software, and services for the past decade of relative prosperity are likely wondering if a shift from the automotive industry to the defense industry is both possible and wise as a recession-proof, parallel employer (for the individual) or customer (for the business). 'Let's start off with my time in commercial automotive,' says Jeff Massimilla, now Vice President of Global Engineering, Design and Technology for General Dynamics Land Systems and previously the Vice President of OnStar for General Motors. 'At GM, our primary objective was to drive shareholder value. You did that by creating compelling products, demanding higher prices and selling more vehicles and services. But here in the defense industry, we have another motivation – especially for our former military employees, which at General Dynamics Land Systems is approximately 1 out of every 5: 'How do we provide products that bring home safely the armies of the United States and its allies?' There's no relationship like that in automotive. It's unique.' And so that began a conversation to understand what is interestingly similar and what's vastly different between the two connected vehicles. MARCH, 2025: Jeff Massimilla, Vice President of Global Engineering, Design and Technology for ... More General Dynamics Land Systems. • SOFTWARE EXPLOSION: In 2011, Andreessen Horowitz, the co-founder of Netscape, wrote a now famous essay entitled, 'Why Software is Eating the World.' This generic prediction was absolutely accurate for both industries. Just the term 'Software Defined Vehicle' has gone from non-existent in 2020 to nearly 4000 Google searches in 2024. 'The [defense] • ASSOCIATED ARCHITECTURE: Both old-school, modular architectures with dozens of separate systems are being revamped into a cohesive system, but with even greater scale in defense. 'In the automotive environment, each of the nearly one hundred modules is purpose-built with only enough compute, memory, [inputs/outputs] • CYBERSECURITY: Both industries have a significant focus on preventing hacks based upon requirements and industry standards with architectures that cordon off important areas. 'Cybersecurity is a super high priority, and I would argue much higher in defense than automotive,' explains Massimilla. 'The threat actors are very motived in this environment. Mission-specific functions must have the highest level of scrutiny and integrity.' A combined chart of Google Searches worldwide for the phrases 'software defined vehicle' and ... More 'software-defined vehicle' shows an exponential interest in SDV's across industries. • SURVIVABILITY: There are plenty of 'ilities' in automotive that create non-functional requirements (e.g., usability, manufacturability) with survivability certainly amongst them (as derived from functional safety standards), but it takes on a new context within Defense. 'Survivability is a completely different discussion and so multifaceted. It's a mix of making the vehicle truly easy to operate, keeping the squad safe or getting them out of an unsafe environment, helping with threat identification, keeping the cognitive burden low to avoid fatigue after long hours of operation, and just overall avoiding the vehicle detection. I used to think automotive was a super-high-tech environment … [but] the technology in this world is second-to-none. It is the most cutting-edge technology being applied to the mission, and it's all about fightability and survivability.' • BEING SENSED: Once again, in defense a top priority is not being seen or heard, whereas automakers are adding noise to Electric Vehicles (EVs) to avoid pedestrian deaths, increasing the throatiness of muscle cars, and adding elements to improve the ability to be sensed by backup cameras or safety systems. • ONGOING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS: Many times, automotive suppliers are inundated with 10,000-15,000 requirements from an automaker attempting to either create comparable quotes or, more likely compatible subsystems (i.e., plug'n'play in the network) via a transactional relationship with few, if any, long-term, ongoing contractual obligations. Defense is moving towards the opposite. 'The long-term relationship with the customer is quite different,' explained Massimilla. 'Going back to the motivation of helping the missions be successful, we get feedback from the field and look at the products from the lens of 'What are the challenges of our customers, and how can we help solve those challenges for them?' It may be a software solution that we can load onto the existing platform, or it could be a modular solution. We don't wait for the customer to give us all of the requirements, but rather work to solve their problems based upon the art of the possible.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
GDLS debuts short-range air defense option for light units
As the Army looks for solutions for a Short-Range Air Defense system for lighter units, General Dynamics Land Systems is debuting an option using a Pandur 6x6 vehicle built originally for the Austrian army. The Pandur vehicle comes from GDLS' sister company — European Land Systems company Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeuge — and was developed in the 1980s. Yet, 'while it was developed over 40 years ago, it's gone through several iterations and generational changes and updates of technologies and requirements changes,' said Ray Moldovan, GDLS business development manager. The new version is called Pandur Evolution, or EVO for short. GDLS already provides the Stryker combat vehicle for the Army's fielded Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense system, the Sgt. Stout. There is a counter-unmanned aircraft systems version of the Stryker, as well. While there are similarities to the Stryker, the Pandur EVO is 'highly mobile, highly survivable, scalable,' and has ballistic protection, Moldovan told Defense News. 'It does have a smaller footprint, it's lighter weight.' The Army is pursuing a number of M-SHORAD modernization efforts following the service's rapid fielding of an interim solution. Development of the M-SHORAD system took place in record time as the result of an urgent operational need identified in 2016 for the European theater. The Army received the requirement to build the system in February 2018. It took 19 months from the time the service generated the requirement to the delivery of prototypes for testing in the first quarter of 2020. The M-SHORAD is a Stryker combat vehicle-based platform that includes a mission equipment package designed by Leonardo DRS and RTX's Stinger vehicle missile launcher. The first platoon to receive it deployed to Europe in 2021. The Army fielded its third Sgt. Stout battalion at Fort Cavazos, Texas. The first M-SHORAD battalion remains in Germany, and the second is based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. US Army's short-range air defense efforts face review board The service is working on a version of the capability with a laser weapon that is not yet a program of record but has been deployed to the U.S. Central Command theater. It is also working to replace the Stinger missile. Two teams are competing for that work. The Army released a request for information to industry for a lighter SHORAD solution in the summer of 2024 and is expected to finalize a directed requirement this year. The RFI asks for solutions 'to provide air defense capability to protect dismounted maneuver forces in the near, mid and far terms.' The request also notes there will be a focus on systems that can be transported by C-130 and are able to be airdropped or sling loaded. They should also be capable of defeating unmanned aircraft systems both small and large, as well as helicopters and fixed-wing close support aircraft. While the Pandur has a weight rating of about 20 tons, it is roughly 10 tons lighter than the Sgt. Stout, Moldovan noted. The vehicle still has room for a vehicle commander, gunner, SHORAD operator and robotic systems operator in the troop compartment. The Pandur SHORAD system uses the same Moog RIP turret that is on the Sgt. Stout. The same turret has been integrated on GDLS' robotic combat vehicle called TRX. General Dynamics unit puts short-range air defense on robotic vehicle GDLS will be taking the vehicle to the Army's MFIX, or the Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in July. The company responded to the Army's RFI with both the Pandur and 10-ton TRX options, according to Moldovan. TRX will also be present and operated in tandem at MFIX. The Pandur was developed for the Austrian army, and Portugal, Belgium, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are also customers. While the vehicle is foreign, GDLS built Pandurs in Michigan in the mid-1990s, said Kendall Linson, company business development manager. The company could restart that line again if the Army settled on the option, he noted. 'I think Pandur would align with a counter-UAS capability simply because of the weight of the vehicle and the utility and survivability of the vehicle,' Linson said. 'A lot of counter-UAS, basically the solutions that they're looking at don't provide that survivability that the Pandur would offer.'
Argaam
04-03-2025
- Business
- Argaam
China retaliates with extra 15% tariffs on some US imports
China announced today, March 4, that it will impose additional customs tariffs of up to 15% on some US goods starting from March 10. In addition, it will restrict exports to 15 US companies, including General Dynamics Land Systems. The new tariffs mainly include US agricultural commodities, including corn and soybeans, with new fees of 15% and 10%, respectively. The retaliatory measures from China's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce came just as additional US tariffs took effect on Chinese goods, marking an escalation of the trade war between the two largest economies in the world. The White House confirmed that the additional customs duties of 10% on Chinese imports will enter into force today, bringing new tariffs in just one month to 20%. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that Beijing strongly opposes the additional US tariffs on China, adding that this action will harm trade relations between the two countries.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
M10 Booker Undergoing Cold Weather Trials In Alaska
Eyeing a potential future fight in the Arctic, the Army is putting its new light tank-like M10 Booker Combat Vehicle through a series of cold-weather tests at Fort Greely, Alaska. The trials come as the U.S. military seeks to boost its ability to fight in the Arctic, an area of increasing strategic importance. Soldiers are conducting 'primarily reliability testing as well as automotive, systems and firing at extreme cold temperatures,' Ashley John, a spokesperson for the Army's Next Generation Ground Vehicle Cross-Functional Team told us. The Greely cold-weather trial was prescribed when Booker's testing plan was approved in Fiscal Year 2022, she added. There is also hot weather testing underway, both of which are normal for major weapons systems like this. It is unclear when the testing at Greely will conclude, how it performed in the cold or what soldiers using the vehicles think about them. We asked the Army and will update this story with any pertinent details provided. The Booker was designed under the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program to fill a capability gap the Army identified after two decades of largely counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. There was little need at the time for a light tank-like vehicle that could bridge the gap between the M-1 Abrams main battle tank and armored vehicles like the Bradley and Stryker. A Stryker Mobile Gun System variant had a 105mm gun, but the Army divested that in 2021 because of problems with its dated cannon and autoloader. That platform was also far less protected than the Booker and its wheels meant it could not navigate rough terrain like the tracked M10 can. With an MTU 8v199 TE-22, 800 hp diesel engine and an Allison transmission, the Booker can travel at up to about 40 mph. Armed with a 105mm main gun, the vehicles won't have as much firepower as the Abrams with its 120mm gun. Nor will the Bookers have as much armor to protect them. But they will require much less fuel and a far smaller logistical tail, and they will still be able to deliver a badly needed punch that can destroy armor, bunkers, and fortifications. Perhaps more importantly, they will get to the fight, including arriving at remote locales via airlift, far faster than an Abrams ever could. This could be critical in defending arctic locales during a crisis. You can learn more about the Booker in our detailed profile video below. The Army is planning to buy more than 500 Bookers from General Dynamics Land Systems and have four Booker battalions fielded by 2030, with most of the planned acquisition scheduled to be completed by 2035, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). With a projected price tag of about $13 million a piece, the total package would be about $6.5 billion. The total life-cycle cost of the program, including sustainment, military construction and personnel, is estimated at $17 billion, Defense News reported. You can read more about the Booker's capabilities and planned future role in our story here. The Army has previously described operating in the Arctic, where the lowest temperatures can reach between −65 and −50° F, as just being a struggle to survive, let alone fight an enemy. At Fort Greely, winters have an average temperature of -13°F. That drastic climate creates extreme stress on troops and equipment. That played out in 2022 when the Army withdrew a fleet of 8×8 Stryker wheeled vehicles from Alaska in part because of persistent difficulties in keeping them running in cold weather conditions. Those vehicles had been assigned to what is now known as 1st Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. In 2022, the division received BvS10 Beowulf tracked vehicles as its new Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle, or CATV, to help transport troops and equipment. You can read more about how the Army is trying to cope with fighting under frigid conditions in our deep dive here. For the Army, being able to conduct combat operations in the Arctic is critical. The region has seen renewed strategic attention from the U.S. military for years now. Global climate change has caused the polar ice caps to recede, opening up new access to natural resources and trade routes. This, in turn, has created new geopolitical competition, and the potential for conflict, especially with Russia and China, as a byproduct. President Donald Trump's keen interest in acquiring Greenland highlights the importance of the Arctic. There are several challenges when an armor track vehicle operates in the cold. 'Arctic conditions make starting armored vehicle engines, especially diesel engines, difficult due to battery power loss and potential fuel gelling,' an armor expert familiar with the Booker told us. 'Preheating techniques may be necessary, and fuel additives (such as anti-gel treatments) are required to prevent it from thickening up depending if it's diesel or JP8.' In addition, 'batteries and electronics may have issues due to extreme cold, reducing battery efficiency, affecting vehicle startup, communications systems, and fire control systems,' the expert explained. 'Also electrical wiring insulation can become brittle and crack, increasing the risk of malfunctions.' There can be hydraulic and lubrication issues as well 'because arctic temperatures thicken hydraulic fluids and lubricants, slowing turret traverse and gun elevation,' the expert noted. 'Also, the oil viscosity changes can reduce engine and transmission efficiency.' The rubber tracks 'may become brittle and more prone to cracking. The track suspension such as torsion bars, and shock absorbers may stiffen, impacting ride quality and performance over rough terrain. Finally, snow and ice buildup in the running gear can cause track slippage and jamming,' according to the expert. Beyond that, 'condensation on the optics, sensors, circuit boards, and other electronics caused by the rapid temperature changes can lead to ice buildups and then lead to malfunctioning.' The arctic testing will be important to see whether Booker is suitable for the region beyond just being able to stand up to the elements. Mobility and smaller logistics trains are two critical requirements for the Arctic, where bases are few and far between, increasing the challenge of keeping vehicles maintained and fueled. At 41 tons, the Booker weighs about 40% less than the Abrams. Smaller in dimensions and having no heavy side skirt, two can be delivered by a single C-17 Globemaster III, roll out of its cargo bay, and be combat-ready for wherever needed far more rapidly than an Abrams, the expert said. By contrast, only one 70-plus-ton Abrams can fit on a C-17 and they can take days to reach their destination. The Arctic isn't the only place where the Army is testing Booker. The vehicles are also undergoing testing at the Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in Arizona. 'In addition to test firing the armaments in both the natural environment and from a cold chamber, the platform is being subjected to a full complement of performance and reliability, accessibility, and maintainability testing,' the Army said in a recent media release. 'Test vehicles are running across punishing desert road courses, up steep slopes, and through a watery fording basin, sometimes while under a full load.' 'The data we are collecting is for a decision on full rate production next summer,' said Jade Janis, YPG test officer. There is plenty of additional testing planned for these vehicles, as well. Beyond how it performs in the cold and other trials, Booker faces other challenges. The war in Ukraine has, in some respects, changed the way armor is looked at on the modern battlefield. In particular, armor has shown itself extremely vulnerable to drones, especially first-person view (FPV) variants. Alterations to existing designs — none of which Booker possesses at this time — have helped harden them against this threat, but even the Abrams remains susceptible to it. 'Given this threat and reported vulnerability, Congress might further explore with the Army-specific M-10 design characteristics and countermeasures intended to address the threat posed by UAS and loitering munitions,' the Congressional Research Service (CRS) suggested in its report on the vehicle last month. In addition, the Trump administration is eyeing the Pentagon budget and cuts to weapons programs and enhancements to others are sure to be on the horizon. Time will tell whether the Army procures the hundreds of Bookers it wants. Contact the author: howard@
