If GD sells all the assets it has put on the block, it will go from an $8.75 billion company (by 1991 sales) to a $6 billion company - if its remaining businesses continue at their current sales rate, which is unlikely in today's defense spending climate.

A Giant Holds on by Going to Pieces

FORT WORTH – When there was a Soviet Union, General Dynamics F-16s, Trident submarines, Abrams tanks and cruise missiles were major players in America’s defensive strategy against its superpower foe. Now that the Berlin Wall has crumbled, the Soviet Union is shattered and U.S. defense spending is being pared, GD is shrinking.

In November 1989, GD acknowledged that F-16 production had fallen as many as 20 planes behind schedule because of production problems. The problems cost GD millions of dollars in delayed government payments, contract adjustments and overtime pay.

Air Force Blasts GD for F-16 Production Woes

FORT WORTH – In a harshly worded letter to top management, the Air Force has asked General Dynamics Corp. to correct problems in F-16 production in Fort Worth that the government says could hinder the company’s efforts to keep building its primary jet fighter on schedule.