Divest from Maine’s Weapons Maker, General Dynamics

General Dynamics owns Both Saco Defense and Bath Iron Works.

Saco Defense is one of the world’s leading producers of small and medium caliber machine guns and cannon barrels. Saco Defense, bought on June 30, 2000 by General Dynamics Armament Systems (GDAS), a division of General Dynamics, specializes in automatic weapons for the military. Saco Defense, briefly owned by Colt, is now called General Dynamics Weapon Systems. GDAS company headquarters are in Burlington, Vermont, with additional facilities in Maine, New Jersey, and Arkansas.

Bath Iron Works BIW’s largest customer has historically been the United States Navy, for which the shipyard has built and sometimes designed battleships, frigates, cruisers and destroyers including the Arleigh Burke class, which is among the most advanced surface warships in the world. BIW was purchased in 1995 by General Dynamics and may be the largest private employer in Maine, with the possible exception of the Hannaford Brothers Supermarket Chain. Saco/GDAS produces a variety of armament systems and munitions including:

• M2 .50 caliber Browning machine gun - This machine gun is used by virtually every army outside the former communist bloc. Some 3 million Browning machine guns have been made by different companies, and it is one of the most ubiquitous machine-guns ever made.
• M60 and M60E3 7.62mm machine gun - The M60 is used by US forces, Australia, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and many other countries.
• MK-19 40mm Grenade Launcher - Saco Defense is the sole producer of the MK-19 for the US armed forces, and is currently working on a next generation grenade launcher called the ‘Striker.’ It was widely used in the Gulf War and in addition to the US, both Taiwan and Israel have purchased the MK-19.

The US government has facilitated the sales and giveaways (through its’ Foreign Military Sales and Excess Defense Article programs) of M60 machine guns to Panama, Peru, Colombia, and Jordan; and M2 machine guns to Egypt, Greece, Thailand, and Tunisia.

The US Environmental Protection Agency accused Saco Defense of violating chromium emissions standards in 1997 and 1998, once by 20 percent and once by 33 percent. Saco has agreed to pay $75,800 to settle the claim.

General Dynamics (Saco Defense), Saco

• 2002-2006: $33 million for MK47 Mod 0 Striker40 Advanced Lightweight Grenade Launcher.
• 2006: $3.25 million for the XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon.
• 2004: $7 million to develop the XM312 .50 caliber Advanced Crew Served Weapon.
• 2003: $4.2 million for Kiowa helicopter gatling gun.
• 2003: $3.5 million for the Objective Crew Served Weapon.
• 2005: $4.5 million for the M2HB Enhanced .50 Caliber Machine Gun Kit.
• 2001: $6 million for MK-19 grenade launchers.

Sources:
Arms Trade Resource Center
Bath Iron Works Arms Studies