- GENERAL DYNAMICS COMPLETES CRUSADER TRANSMISSION
ACCEPTANCE TEST AND BEGINS POWER PACK INTEGRATION
AHEAD OF SCHEDULE-

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. -- General Dynamics Defense Systems' newly designed 1500 horsepower Crusader transmission, the HMPT 1500, passed a major milestone this week when acceptance test procedures were successfully accomplished on transmission two at the division's test facility in Dalton, Massachusetts. This completes the series of increasingly strenuous test and inspection cycles that began in October.

The transmission was shipped ahead of schedule to Land Systems' Muskegon, Michigan, operation to support the next phase of the planned Crusader power pack fit-up and integration activities. Advance fit-up checks, using critical engine housings, were successfully completed in Massachusetts in early December to ensure that the engine transmission mating tasks proceed smoothly in Michigan.

"Delivery of the first Crusader HMPT 1500 transmission provides the U.S. Army with a unique combination of increased power for survivability, and more precise steering for low speed docking," said Michael Tweed-Kent, Defense Systems' vice president of Engineering. "It also provides for an economic and highly efficient operation during combat and standby-idle modes."

###

LS-97-26
12-11-97