Mr. Harvey has spent the past eight years working in business development at General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, where he was responsible for developing, executing and securing major crew served weapon system orders from the U.S. Armed Forces and international military customers for the company’s Gun Systems Strategic Business Unit.

From 1982 to 2002, Harvey served on active duty as a combat arms officer in the United States Marine Corps. He joined General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products upon his retirement in April of 2002. He has deployed and trained extensively with allied and foreign militaries throughout South America, Africa and the Far East region. He is a graduate of the Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, the Joint Forces Staff College and the Defense Systems Management College, Program Manager’s Course, Defense Acquisition University.

Robert Battis, CEO of the Company, stated, “John Harvey initially consulted with the company prior to being named Vice President, and he now holds the primary responsibilities for the overall Dazer Laser® corporate organization and management. His responsibilities will include the development, execution, performance and customer satisfaction of the Company’s Dazer Laser® business programs. Harvey will build upon the current military, law enforcement and international prospect and customer base by broadening and strengthening key marketing and sales relationships, leading to requirements focused results and increased global market share. I’m confident John will provide the leadership necessary to ensure unparalleled growth for the Dazer Laser® business.”

Mr. Harvey commented, “Laser Energetics, Inc. is poised for tremendous growth as the requirements of the less than lethal industry continue to dramatically increase within the military, homeland security, and law enforcement communities. The Company is committed to expanding the Dazer Laser® – Light Fighting Technologies product line, and providing the safest, most effective Optical Distracters, allowing us to be extremely competitive and profitable in the ‘less than lethal’ market space. It is both an honor and privilege to serve the Company in a leadership role.”

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is producing the Dazer Laser® – Light Fighting Technologies under contract with Laser Energetics, at its Charlotte Operations manufacturing facility located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Harvey is working closely with his former colleagues at General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products to develop and coordinate a near-term marketing plan to introduce the Dazer Laser® – Light Fighting Technologies to the various joint non-lethal military organizations within the U.S. Department of Defense. Additionally, the Dazer Laser® – Light Fighting Technologies product line will be showcased and demonstrated at the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products display booth during three premier military conferences, the Infantry Warfighters Conference, the Modern Day Marine Exposition and the Association of the U.S. Army Annual Conference and Symposium, throughout the months of September and October, 2010.

“The US Army’s BCTM program places a very high priority on equipping troops with advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities,” said Rob McKeel, Vice President, Military & Aerospace Embedded Computing at GE Intelligent Platforms. “The ability to get accurate information to its destination as fast as possible is a fundamental requirement. These switches fulfil the Army’s requirement for expertise in ruggedization and can make a significant contribution not only to our soldiers’ effectiveness, but also their safety.”

The NETernity CP923RC-M 10-port fully managed layer 2/3 Gigabit Ethernet switch is designed to be deployed on platforms that are subject to extremes of temperature, moisture, dust/sand and vibration making it ideal for demanding applications in harsh environments.

The CP923RC-M features support for IPv6, the Internet Protocol that will be at the heart of networks of the future with its much larger addressing capability — making it ‘future proof’ – together with capabilities that greatly simplify network administration. In common with all of GE’s NETernity switches, the CP923RC-M features OpenWare(TM) switch management software enabling a switch to be easily configured for any network requirement — from the trivially simple through to the very complex. The flexible OpenWare environment provides integrated switch management services, including configuration, monitoring, switching control, addressing, and routing.

BCTM is the US Army’s principal modernization program. Its purpose is to build a versatile mix of mobile, networked BCTs that will leverage mobility, protection, and information to conduct effective operations across the spectrum of conflict. The BCT Modernization Plan is informed by the comprehensive lessons learned from more than eight years of war, focusing on the evolving needs of warfighters in a rapidly changing security environment.

The defence contract was awarded by US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, Maryland.

Production work will be performed at General Dynamics’ facility in Saco, Maine, and the programme will be managed at General Dynamics’ Burlington Technology Center in Vermont. Work is expected to be completed in September 2012.

“The M61A2 offers a lightweight, reliable gun system to protect US servicemen and women. Our work force in Maine takes great pride in manufacturing the M61A2 for U.S. warfighters,” said Mike O’Brien, vice president and general manager of gun systems for General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products in a company news release.

The M61A2 20mm Gatling gun system is mounted in the nose of the aircraft and can fire a rate of 4,000 or 6,000 shots per minute. The M61A2 is 20 percent lighter than the previous model and operates on a closed-loop rotary, linkless ammunition feed system.

Production work will be performed at General Dynamics’ facility in Saco, Maine, and the program will be managed at General Dynamics’ Burlington Technology Center in Vermont. Work is expected to be completed in September 2012.

The M61A2 20mm Gatling gun system is mounted in the nose of the aircraft and can fire a rate of 4,000 or 6,000 shots per minute. The M61A2 is 20 percent lighter than the previous model and operates on a closed-loop rotary, linkless ammunition feed system.

Mike O’Brien, vice president and general manager of gun systems for General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, said, “The M61A2 offers a lightweight, reliable gun system to protect U.S. servicemen and women. Our work force in Maine takes great pride in manufacturing the M61A2 for U.S. warfighters.” General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, located in Charlotte, N.C., provides a broad range of system solutions for military and commercial applications. The company designs, develops and produces high-performance weapon and armament systems, defensive armor, countermeasure systems and aerospace composite solutions, as well as off-road axle and suspension systems. It is also a leading U.S. producer of biological and chemical detection systems.

BAE Systems is opening its state-of-the-art design and prototyping center in Sterling Heights, Mich., which is one town over from Army TACOM LCMC, which is in Warren, Mich., just south of Sterling Heights. Locating the new combat land vehicles and vetronics technology center in Sterling Heights also places BAE Systems in close geographical proximity to one of its major competitors, General Dynamics Land Systems, which also has its headquarters and major design and manufacturing facilities in Sterling Heights.

The company’s new Sterling Heights campus, upon completion late next year, will include a renovated test track and a four-story office building. The campus eventually will house about 600 employees. “This center will allow us to be in close proximity to our customer,” says Joe McCarthy, vice president and general manager of Heavy Brigade Combat Team Systems at BAE Systems, and Sterling Heights Site Executive.

“With this center we can address future vehicle modernization by rapidly integrating capabilities into combat systems while improving time-to-market factors, while also reducing costs for our customer,” McCarthy says. When completed, the site will total 198,000 square feet on 81 acres.

The new design center initially will have about 40 employees and more than a dozen assembly bays for vehicle and subsystem modifications, integration, and testing. in addition to supporting labs and facilities that will provide electrical assembly fabrication, software development, and system integration of vehicle control and crew station electronics. The site will also have a full-service machine shop equipped with welding capabilities.

The center also will support other company programs including Bradley Fighting Vehicle and Bradley derivatives, M88, M113 family of vehicles, M109 family of vehicles including the Paladin Integrated Management vehicle, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Medium Mine Protected Vehicle and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

Certification ensures that the General Dynamics Warrior 1.2 and 1.8 meter, Ka-band enabled terminals meet stringent performance and operational control requirements needed to operate on the WGS network. The WGS network comprises a constellation of six U.S. Department of Defense satellites that provide flexible communications connectivity for U.S. military forces.

Certification, completed by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT), enables Warrior terminals currently used by the U.S. Marine Corps as part of the Support Wide Area Network (SWAN) program to access the WGS network. The SWAN program provides the Marines with secure and non-secure commercial-off-the-shelf satellite communications equipment that can quickly accommodate technology insertions and upgrades like the Ka-band capability.

The higher transmit and receive operating frequencies inherent to Ka-Band allow the SWAN terminals to use smaller, lighter, and more highly integrated communications capabilities than those used at Ku-Band. In addition to a smaller footprint and reduced weight, other benefits of Ka-band over Ku-band for satellite communications include:

• Higher data-rate throughput for improved quality of video, voice and data communications
• Reduced space segment cost through the use of the WGS system
• Reduced communications interference issues due to dedicated WGS satellite access

The Warrior 1.2 and 1.8 meter terminals are composed of Very Small Aperture (VSAT) antenna subsystems, power amplifiers, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) modems, automatic tracking control and other related electronic subsystems.

Marvin Shoemake, vice president of sales for General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, said, “The successful completion of the SMDC/ARSTRAT testing represents a major Ka-band upgrade for the SWAN program. The certification also opens the door for other government agencies, including homeland security, to have robust, beyond-line-of-sight communications using the WGS network.”

The company said deliveries will begin next February and be completed in September 2011.

The armor system is made of tiles that fasten to the outside of military vehicles to provide better protection from direct hits by anti-armor weapons.

Work on the tiles will be done at a General Dynamics facility in McHenry, Miss. A partner, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., will complete some of the production in Israel.

General Dynamics shares fell 86 cents to $57.01 in afternoon trading, earlier hitting a 52-week low of $56.26.

The reactive armor system is composed of tiles that fasten to the exterior of a vehicle, allowing it to better withstand direct hits from a variety of anti-armor munitions.

Production work will be performed at the General Dynamics facility in McHenry, Miss., and the program will be managed from General Dynamics’ Burlington Technology Center in Vermont. A strategic partner, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Ordnance and Protection Division, will share the production workload in Haifa, Israel.

“Our reactive armor technology adds a valuable level of vehicle protection against shaped-charge threats and explosively-formed projectiles,” said Russ Klein, vice president and general manager of weapon systems for General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products. “Designed specifically for the U.S. Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle, reactive armor prevents severe damage to combat vehicles in Iraq, and more importantly saves lives.”

In addition to manufacturing the reactive armor tiles for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, General Dynamics provides complete assembly, integration and storage capabilities for the U.S. Army’s reactive armor tile program.

When its engine throttled up, the 68,000-pound behemoth rose from the surface, threw out a large wake and reached speeds of nearly 25 knots.

It was a virtually flawless display for a land-and-sea vehicle whose development has been anything but trouble-free.

“There have been a lot of naysayers, but at the end of the day the Marine Corps doesn’t want to do away with its amphibious capability,” said Manny Pacheco, a civilian spokesman for the service’s EFV program.

Over budget and overdue, the General Dynamics product is intended to replace the Marine Corps’ nearly 40-year-old Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

The heavily armored, aluminum-hulled EFV uses two 23-inch water jets to propel it at sea. When it reaches land, the nearly 11-foot-tall vehicle converts from watercraft to land cruiser, rolling out tank-like tracks propelled by a 12-cylinder diesel engine.

The vehicle is heavily armed with a 30 mm, front-mounted cannon and an M240 machine gun that can hit targets from about 2,000 yards. It can carry enough fuel to cruise more than 200 miles on land.

The concept is simple enough. The Marine Corps envisions using it to ferry troops from 20 miles or more offshore —- or “over the horizon” —- where the ships can’t be seen and the troops can come ashore without being noticed.

Developmental problems have delayed full-scale production, pushing the due date from 2007 for the first delivery to Marines in the field to 2011. The service also has scaled back its original purchase plan of more than 1,013 vehicles to 573.

Putting all those to sea with all the developmental and operational changes, fixes and delays will cost taxpayers nearly $12 billion. Development costs are up 132 percent from the year 2000.

While Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly questioned if the costs are worth it, the Marine Corps has steadfastly stood by the EFV, drawing comparisons to its stance on the similarly troubled Osprey aircraft.

In the end, the tilt-rotor, combination helicopter and airplane was built and put into operation two years ago. Officials vow the same will happen with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.

“It’s a vital piece of our future operations,” said Maj. Brian Strack, who is helping put the vehicle through its paces. “The key goal is to get the vehicle’s reliability established.”

While many question the Marine Corps’ seeming fixation with vehicles and training aimed at large-scale shore invasions, which haven’t happened since World War II and once in the Korean War, service officials have said the capability remains necessary to the nation’s defense.

The problems in software, handling and related woes that have delayed the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle are as much the fault of the Marine Corps as the manufacturer, according to Pacheco.

“Early on in the program we asked a lot of the builders that we really didn’t have the money for,” he said. “We underestimated what we asked the builder to do.”

The Marine Corps now believes the EFV and its climate-controlled interior is on the right track.

“This is its time,” Strack said. “This is when we need to be able to show what it can do so we can move ahead with production and get it into the fleet.”

Despite continued criticism from Congress and within the Pentagon, John Pike of the defense monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington said he believes it will survive.

“When it comes down to it, going across the beach is the Marine Corps’ signature capability, so they have to have the vehicle for that,” he said. “What’s driving (the EFV) as much as anything is the fact the vehicles they have for that today are wearing out.”

Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, said the congressman believes the EFV is necessary. Hunter is a former Marine and member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“All around, the EFV is a good vehicle,” Kasper said. “It’s faster, more durable and better armored. The EFV is all about maintaining essential combat capability —- getting Marines from ship to shore.”

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