 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2019) |
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| Founded | January 1994 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | June 24, 2005 |
| Fate | Acquired by BAE Systems |
| Successor | BAE Systems Land & Armaments |
| Headquarters | Arlington, Virginia, US |
United Defense Industries (UDI) was an American defense contractor which became part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments after being acquired by BAE Systems in 2005. The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and precision munitions.
The company started as a division of the agricultural machine business, Food Machinery Corporation (FMC), when they won a US Federal Government contract to build the Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) and became a weapon manufacturer during World War II. In 1964, FMC broadened their defense business by purchasing Northern Ordnance Company (formerly Northern Pump Company) in Fridley, Minnesota which specialized in Naval shipboard guns and missile launchers.
Bowen McLaughlin York (BMY), which became the BMY division of Harsco Corporation, was a separate business involving design and manufacture of various combat vehicles and other defense hardware. Following a massive decline in orders for tracked combat vehicles between 1983 and 1994, FMC and the Harsco Corporation agreed in January 1994 to combine their defense businesses to form United Defense. The new company owned the former FMC California-based Ground Systems Division, the former FMC Minnesota-based Armament Systems Division and Harsco's Pennsylvania-based BMY Combat Systems Division. The new company restructured its operations to concentrate final assembly and testing of combat vehicles to Pennsylvania. [1]
In September 2000, UDI purchased Bofors Weapon Systems AB of Sweden, subsequently renamed Bofors Defence. [2]
In 1997 UDI was subject to a takeover bids by rival General Dynamics and The Carlyle Group. It chose the lowest bid from private equity firm The Carlyle Group, which floated the company in 2001 but retained a share of the company.[ clarification needed ]
On March 7, 2005 UK-based defence contractor BAE Systems announced it was to acquire UDI for US$3.974 billion (£2.1 billion). This followed expressions of interest from companies including Northrop Grumman.[ citation needed ]
BAE Systems' bid was referred to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to ensure there were no national security implications of the sale. The CFIUS granted approval of the deal in April 2005. BAE completed its acquisition of United Defense on June 24, 2005 and announced plans to merge the company with its existing land systems businesses to form BAE Systems Land and Armaments.[ citation needed ]
United Defense products included:[ citation needed ]
AB Bofors is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms manufacturer BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years.
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational aerospace, defence and information security company, based in London, England. It is the biggest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe and the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where its BAE Systems Inc. subsidiary is one of the six largest suppliers to the US Department of Defense. Its next biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, then Australia; other major markets include Canada, Japan, India, Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Sweden. The company was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion purchase of and merger of Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC), with British Aerospace, an aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer.
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