Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
May 12, 2008
Pg. D4
Bid for Armored Vehicles Is $31 Billion
By Steve Rothwell and Edmond Lococo, Bloomberg News
General Dynamics, the U.S. Army's largest supplier, has been chosen by the British military as the preferred bidder to provide armored utility vehicles.
The Falls Church company will supply the British army with its Piranha 5 vehicles as part of Britain's Future Rapid Effect System, or FRES. The program consists of as many as 3,000 vehicles that are capable of being transported by air at short notice.
"The provisional selection of Piranha 5 as the FRES utility vehicle design heralds the start of a new era for the Army in terms of capability," Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff of the British army, said in a statement. "This will form the backbone of the Army's future armored vehicle requirements."
The program will be the British army's largest procurement ever, with a purchase price of about $31.3 billion, General Dynamics said on its Web site.
The government didn't disclose the value of the utility vehicle portion being awarded to General Dynamics, and company spokesman Robert Doolittle said he didn't have additional information.
The FRES fleet consists of five vehicle categories: utility, reconnaissance, medium armor, maneuver support and basic capability. Utility vehicles will likely make up two-thirds of the fleet.
The Ministry of Defense selected General Dynamics' design ahead of rival vehicles offered by Artec, a Dutch-German group, and Nexter, a supplier of tanks and armored vehicles that is owned by the French government.
More than 9,000 Piranha vehicles have been sold to date, the company said in a statement. General Dynamics acquired the Piranha design as part of its 2003 purchase of the defense business of General Motors for about $1.1 billion.
May 12, 2008
Pg. D4
Bid for Armored Vehicles Is $31 Billion
By Steve Rothwell and Edmond Lococo, Bloomberg News
General Dynamics, the U.S. Army's largest supplier, has been chosen by the British military as the preferred bidder to provide armored utility vehicles.
The Falls Church company will supply the British army with its Piranha 5 vehicles as part of Britain's Future Rapid Effect System, or FRES. The program consists of as many as 3,000 vehicles that are capable of being transported by air at short notice.
"The provisional selection of Piranha 5 as the FRES utility vehicle design heralds the start of a new era for the Army in terms of capability," Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff of the British army, said in a statement. "This will form the backbone of the Army's future armored vehicle requirements."
The program will be the British army's largest procurement ever, with a purchase price of about $31.3 billion, General Dynamics said on its Web site.
The government didn't disclose the value of the utility vehicle portion being awarded to General Dynamics, and company spokesman Robert Doolittle said he didn't have additional information.
The FRES fleet consists of five vehicle categories: utility, reconnaissance, medium armor, maneuver support and basic capability. Utility vehicles will likely make up two-thirds of the fleet.
The Ministry of Defense selected General Dynamics' design ahead of rival vehicles offered by Artec, a Dutch-German group, and Nexter, a supplier of tanks and armored vehicles that is owned by the French government.
More than 9,000 Piranha vehicles have been sold to date, the company said in a statement. General Dynamics acquired the Piranha design as part of its 2003 purchase of the defense business of General Motors for about $1.1 billion.