ABSTRACT
After a difficult decade General Dynamics emerged in the 1970s as a leading defense contractor with a wide range of defense programs. In the 1960s, General Dynamics’ last commercial air transports, the Convair 880 and 990 jets, had incurred a $450 m. General Dynamics stands to become the leading Air Force contractor of the 1980s on the strength of its F-16 fighter program. General Dynamics’ success with the F-16 made the Air Force the firm’s best salesman in the emerging European competition over a fighter to replace Lockheed’s F-104s. In June 1975, the Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian and Danish governments all chose the F-16 over Swedish and French competitors for a total order of 350 planes. In April 1976, General Dynamics filed a claim for $400 m. in additional payments on attack submarine work as part of over $1.5 b. in claims from the Navy’s three leading shipyards.
