General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is an American manufacturer of military vehicles, including

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s and light

armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can b ...

s. The company is based in

Sterling Heights, Michigan Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern suburb of Detroit, Sterling Heights is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 134,346, placing Sterl ...

, and is a subsidiary of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

. It was originally established in 1982 following the acquisition of

Chrysler Defense FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary o ...

. GDLS is known for developing and manufacturing vehicles such as the

M1 Abrams The M1 Abrams () is a third-generation American main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems) and named for General Creighton Abrams. Conceived for modern armored ground warfare, it is one of the heavies ...

tank,

Stryker The Stryker is a family of Eight-wheel drive, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in L ...

, and LAV 6.

History

In February 1982

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

announced the sale of Chrysler Defense, its profitable defense subsidiary, to

for US$348.5 million. The sale was completed in March 1982 for the revised figure of US$336.1 million and renamed General Dynamics Land Systems. Under this newly formed division, General Dynamics would take over production of the M60 and M1 tanks for the United States Army. In 1985, 3 years after the sale from Chrysler, General Dynamics production plants in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania went on strike. Members of these plants were part of the

United Automobile Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

union. The strike was primarily around wage increases. On April 11, 2024, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on the company due to its arms sales to Taiwan. On March 4, 2025, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce placed 15 U.S. entities (including General Dynamics Land Systems) on its export control list, barring the export of dual-use commodities to that business.

General Dynamics Land Systems Australia

General Dynamics Land Systems–Australia (GDLS-Australia or GDLS-A) was established in 2000 as a subsidiary to support the production of ASLAV. GDLS-A now provides engineering, manufacturing, systems integration, upgrade and fleet management services for GDLS Armoured Fighting Vehicles in the Asia Pacific region. In Australia this includes the ADF's ASLAV Light Armoured Vehicles and M1A1 Main Battle Tanks, supported under a Through Life Support Contract awarded in June 2011. GDLS-A reports operationally to General Dynamics Land Systems–Canada (GDLS-C). GDLS-A was established in October 2000 as General Motors Defence Australia. General Motors Defense operations worldwide were sold to General Dynamics Land Systems in March 2003. GDLS-A was established as a result of GDLS-C being awarded the Phase III contract to provide 144 Australian Light Armoured Vehicles (ASLAV) to the Commonwealth of Australia. The contract provided for the manufacture of the LAV-25 turret system in Adelaide and the establishment of a significant Australian supplier base to support manufacturing for GDLS' global supply chain for LAV-25 turrets. GDLS-A’s primary customer is the

Defence Materiel Organisation The Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) is an organisation within the Department of Defence (Australia), Australian Department of Defence, responsible for Military acquisition, acquisition, Military supply chain management, sup ...

, Commonwealth of Australia, located in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Victoria. Its National Manufacturing and Support Centre is located north of

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in Pooraka. GDLS-A also has Field Service Groups in Darwin and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, and a Fleet Management Services office in Southbank, Melbourne.

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada

In 2003 GDLS acquired Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH (SSF), the land defense vehicles unit of

Steyr-Daimler-Puch Steyr-Daimler-Puch () was a large manufacturing conglomerate based in Steyr, Austria, which was broken up in stages between 1987 and 2001. The component parts and operations continued to exist under separate ownership and new names. History Th ...

, and General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada (GDLS-C), a subsidiary of General Dynamics based in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, purchased

General Motors Diesel General Motors Diesel was a railway diesel locomotive manufacturer located in London, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1949 as the Canadian subsidiary of the Electro-Motive Diesel division of General Motors (EMD). In 1969 it was re-organiz ...

, GM Defense unit from

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

. At the time, it produced vehicles such as the

LAV-25 The LAV-25 (Light Armored Vehicle) is a member of the LAV II family. It is an eight-wheeled amphibious armored reconnaissance vehicle built by General Dynamics Land Systems and used by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army. ...

and

. The London operation continued in the GM Diesel plant location. SSF merged into the General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) unit. In 2015, GDLS Canada secured a fourteen-year, $15-billion deal to supply light armoured vehicles to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Representatives from

Unifor Unifor is a Canadian general trade union founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions. It consists of 310,000 workers, and associate members in industries including manufactu ...

, the plant union, expressed concern that the London facility would suffer financially due to negative publicity surrounding the deal due to human rights concerns within Saudi Arabia. Both

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

leader Gilles Duceppe and

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Thomas Mulcair challenged Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

on the secrecy surrounding military sales to Saudi Arabia. David Perry, senior analyst with the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, argued that secrecy in trade details is part of a pragmatic foreign

trade policy A commercial policy (also referred to as a trade policy or international trade policy) is a government's policy governing international trade. Commercial policy is an all encompassing term that is used to cover topics which involve international ...

necessary for a domestic industry in a global market.

Manufacturing facilities

United States

The division operates the

Lima Army Tank Plant The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, also known as the Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP) is a tank plant located in Lima, Ohio. It is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility currently operated by General Dynamics Land Systems. Workers at the ...

and General Dynamics Anniston Operations in

Anniston, Alabama Anniston is a city and the county seat of Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County in Alabama, United States, and is one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston–Oxford metropolitan area, Anniston–Oxford Metropo ...

, along with smaller operations in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...

, and

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

. Headquarters are located in

. As of 2016, General Dynamics Land Systems employed 6,800 people.New Products, New Customers - Macomb County
/ref>

Vehicles

, the American

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

K1 88-Tank The K1, sometimes referred to as the 88 Tank (88 전차), is a South Korean main battle tank designed by Chrysler Defense (later General Dynamics Land Systems) and Hyundai Precision Industry (later Hyundai Rotem) for the Republic of Korea Armed ...

, the South Korean

* Light Armoured Vehicle, a family of

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

s *

, a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III *

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, a family of tracked

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

s being developed for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

* Buffalo, a wheeled mine resistant, ambush protected (

MRAP Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAPV), also known as MRAP vehicle, is a type of armoured personnel carrier that is designed specifically to withstand land mines, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, and ambushes to save troops' li ...

) armored

military vehicle A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles, both specifically designed for or significantly used by military. Most military vehicles require Off-road vehicle, off-road capabilities ...

Cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

, an MRAP and

infantry mobility vehicle An infantry mobility vehicle (IMV) is a four-wheel drive armored personnel carrier (APC) serving as an armed military transport, military patrol, reconnaissance or security vehicle. Those IMVs are distinct from 8-, 6-, and 4-wheeled APCs (su ...

structured to be resistant to

landmine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, whi ...

s and improvised munitions * Multi-Utility Tactical Transport (MUTT), currently being trialed by the United States military *

Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

, a series of armoured fighting vehicles under development and being offered under the United States Army Next Generation Combat Vehicle program * Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF), a prototype undergoing Soldier Vehicle Assessment (SVA) (cancelled) * Tracked Robot 10-Ton (TRX), a robotic combat vehicle platform

References

External links

*
General Dynamics Land Systems Australia WebsiteGeneral Dynamics Land Systems-Canada Website
{{Authority control Land Systems American entities subject to Chinese sanctions Defense companies of the United States Military vehicle manufacturers Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan Companies based in Macomb County, Michigan Sterling Heights, Michigan American companies established in 1982 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in Michigan Chrysler