Latest news with #GeneralDynamicsLandSystems
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Optex Systems Announces a $1.6 Million Award for Laser Protected Periscopes
RICHARDSON, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 5, 2025 / Optex Systems Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPXS), a leading manufacturer of precision optical sighting systems for domestic and worldwide military and commercial applications, announced today it has been awarded a firm fixed price purchase order from General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada. This $1.6 million award for laser protected periscopes is critical in mission capability for armored vehicles and will be delivered in fiscal 2026. Danny Schoening, CEO, stated "Ensuring the safety and operational effectiveness of our armed forces is our top priority. We are honored to support General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada by providing advanced optical systems that meet the highest standards of quality and performance." The periscopes and optical sighting systems supplied by Optex Systems are designed to offer enhanced durability, superior optical clarity, and exceptional reliability in harsh combat environments. By combining innovation with rigorous quality control measures, the company ensures that every system delivers the best overall value. As a trusted partner of the defense industry, Optex Systems remains dedicated to advancing military optical technologies that enhance situational awareness and protection on the battlefield. This contract award reaffirms the company's leadership in the field of laser-protected vision systems and its ongoing commitment to supporting the mission readiness of our allies. With this order, the current Optex backlog is in excess of $45 million. ABOUT OPTEX SYSTEMS Optex, which was founded in 1987, is a Richardson, Texas based ISO 9001:2015 certified concern, which manufactures optical sighting systems and assemblies, primarily for Department of Defense (DOD) applications. Its products are installed on various types of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams and Bradley fighting vehicles, Light Armored and Armored Security Vehicles, and have been selected for installation on the Stryker family of vehicles. Optex also manufactures and delivers numerous periscope configurations, rifle and surveillance sights, and night vision optical assemblies. Optex delivers its products both directly to the military services and to prime contractors. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the products and services described herein. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," "likely," "forecast," "probable," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued funding of defense programs and military spending, the timing of such funding, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, changes in spending due to policy changes in any new federal presidential administration, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components or raw materials, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions and restructurings or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, changes to export regulations, increases in tax rates, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, changes in the market for microcap stocks regardless of growth and value and various other factors beyond our control. You must carefully consider any such statement and should understand that many factors could cause actual results to differ from the Company's forward-looking statements. These factors include inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of other risks and uncertainties, including some that are known and some that are not. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. You should carefully evaluate such statements in light of factors described in the Company's filings with the SEC, especially on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. In various filings the Company has identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected or historic results. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete list of all potential risks or uncertainties. Contact: IR@ 764-5718 SOURCE: Optex Systems Holdings, Inc.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pentagon cancels procuring M10 Booker combat vehicles due to 'current world events'
(Reuters) -The Pentagon on Wednesday said it would cancel plans to procure M10 Booker combat vehicles that it had agreed to in a 2022 contract with General Dynamics Land Systems "in response to current world events." "The Army will request to reallocate the remaining funds in fiscal 2025 to accelerate fielding of war-winning capabilities and anticipates additional significant savings to be fully realized within the next 18-24 months," the Pentagon said in a statement.
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.
