On Wednesday, General Dynamics (GD 0.43%) announced that its Armament and Technical Products unit has won a pair of contracts from the U.S. Army for the supply and support of Hydra-70 air-to-ground rockets.
Specifically, GD won two such contracts -- a $210.4 million supply agreement, and a $13.5 million contract to perform engineering services "in support" of the program. Work on both contracts is to be completed by early 2015.
The Hydra is a 70 mm unguided rocket, although the military does have programs under way to develop a new, precision-guided version. Within the Army, it is generally fired from Apache and Kiowa Warrior attack helicopters, although a recent demonstration by Lockheed Martin (LMT -0.07%) -- working, incidentally, on the program to develop guided versions of the Hydra -- demonstrated that the rocket can also be fired from a ground vehicle, specifically Lockheed's prototype Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
