General Dynamics Annual Report 2003 Strength on Your Side 2003 ANNUAL REPORT 3190 Fairview Park Drive Falls Church, Virginia 22042-4523 (703) 876-3000 www.generaldynamics.com BOARD OF OFFICERS DIRECTORS Nicholas D. Chabraja CORPORATE INFORMATION COMBAT SYSTEMS MARINE SYSTEMS AEROSPACE Chairman and Chief OFFICE SYSTEMS & Executive Officer TECHNOLOGY James S. Crown Nicholas D. Chabraja Gerard J. DeMuro Arthur J. Veitch Michael W. Toner Bryan T. Moss President Chairman and Chief Executive Vice Executive Vice Executive Vice Executive Vice Henry Crown Executive Officer President President President President and Company Information Systems Combat Systems Marine Systems Aerospace David K. Heebner and Technology President Lester Crown Senior Vice President Charles M. Hall John P. Casey Gulfstream Aerospace Chairman Planning and Michael E. Chandler Vice President Vice President Henry Crown Development Vice President President President Larry R. Flynn and Company President Land Systems Electric Boat Vice President Michael J. Mancuso Network Systems President William P. Fricks Senior Vice President Linda P. Hudson John F. “Dugan” Aviation Services Former Chairman and and Chief Financial Mark A. Fried Vice President Shipway Chief Executive Officer Vice President President Vice President Joseph T. Lombardo Officer President Armament and President Vice President Newport News Walter M. Oliver C4 Systems Technical Products Bath Iron Works Chief Operating Shipbuilding Inc. Senior Vice President Officer Human Resources Lawrence E. Johnson H. Michael Malzacher Richard H. Vortmann Gulfstream Aerospace Charles H. Goodman and Administration Vice President Vice President Vice President Vice Chairman President and President President Preston A. Henne Henry Crown David A. Savner Managing Director European Land NASSCO Vice President and Company Senior Vice President General Dynamics Combat Systems Senior Vice President General Counsel and United Kingdom Programs, Engineering Jay L. Johnson Secretary Michael S. Wilson and Test President and Chief John F. Stewart Vice President Gulfstream Aerospace Executive Officer David D. Baier Vice President President Dominion Delivery Vice President President Ordnance and Taxes Advanced Information Tactical Systems George A. Joulwan Systems General, U.S. Army Cordis B. Colburn (Retired) Vice President Government Relations Paul G. Kaminski Chairman and Chief David H. Fogg Executive Officer Vice President Technovation, Inc. Treasurer John M. “Jack” Keane Mark L. Haley General, U.S. Army Vice President (Retired) Deputy General Counsel Lester L. Lyles General, U.S. Air Kenneth A. Hill Force (Retired) Vice President Information Carl E. Mundy, Jr. Technology General, U.S. Marine Phebe N. Novakovic Corps (Retired) Vice President Strategic Planning Kendell Pease Contents Vice President Communications 1 2003 Financial Highlights William O. Schmieder 2 Letter to Shareholders Vice President International 8 Information Systems and Technology John W. Schwartz 10 Combat Systems Vice President 12 Marine Systems Controller 14 Aerospace 16 Financial Information CORPORATE TRANSFER AGENT, REGISTRAR AND AUDITORS ANNUAL MEETING inside back cover Directors and Officers HEADQUARTERS DIVIDEND DISBURSING AGENT inside back cover Corporate Information General Dynamics EquiServe Trust Company, N.A. KPMG LLP The annual meeting of General 3190 Fairview Park Drive Attention: 1600 International Drive Dynamics shareholders will be Cover: Falls Church, Virginia Shareholder Relations McLean, Virginia 22102 held on Wednesday, May 5, 2004, (703) 286-8000 General Dynamics’ business groups are repre- 22042-4523 PO Box 43069 at the Fairview Park Marriott (703) 876-3000 Providence, RI 02940-3069 Hotel, 3111 Fairview Park Drive, sented on the cover by (clockwise, from top) a www.generaldynamics.com (800) 519-3111 SHARES LISTED Falls Church, Virginia, 22042. Gulfstream G550 business-jet aircraft, an artist’s www.equiserve.com A formal notice and proxy will rendering of a Virginia-class submarine, the New York Stock Exchange be mailed before the meeting to U.S. Army’s Stryker infantry carrier vehicle, and Chicago Stock Exchange shareholders entitled to vote. Pacific Stock Exchange a fully-integrated, network-dependent combat Ticker symbol: GD information center. Financial Highlights (Dollars in millions, except per share and employee amounts) 2003 2002 2001 Summary of Operations Net Sales $ 16,617 $ 13,829 $ 12,054 Operating Earnings 1,467 1,582 1,486 Earnings from Continuing Operations, Net of Tax 997 1,051 943 Discontinued Operations 7 (134) – Net Earnings 1,004 917 943 Diluted Earnings Per Share Continuing Operations 5.00 5.18 4.65 Discontinued Operations 0.04 (0.66) – Net Earnings 5.04 4.52 4.65 Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities 1,723 1,125 1,101 Capital Expenditures 224 264 356 Research and Development Company-Sponsored 282 253 203 Customer-Sponsored 229 134 83 Total 511 387 286 At Year End Total Backlog $ 41,076 $ 28,971 $ 26,816 Shareholders' Equity 5,921 5,199 4,528 Total Assets 16,183 11,731 11,069 Outstanding Shares of Common Stock 197,966,192 200,993,102 200,745,547 Number of Employees 67,600 53,900 51,500 Sales Per Employee $ 274,900 $ 261,400 $ 249,800 Forward-Looking Statements This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that are action; differences in anticipated and actual program performance, based on management’s expectations, estimates, projections and including the ability to perform under long-term fixed-price assumptions. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “plans,” contracts within estimated costs, and performance issues with key “believes,” “scheduled,” “estimates” and variations of these words suppliers and subcontractors; changing customer demand or and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking preferences for business aircraft, including the effects of economic statements, which include but are not limited to projections of rev- conditions on the business-aircraft market; reliance on a large fleet enues, earnings, segment performance, cash flows, contract customer for a significant portion of the firm aircraft contracts awards, aircraft production, deliveries and backlog stability. backlog and the majority of the options backlog; and the status or Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor outcome of legal and/or regulatory proceedings. All forward-looking provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, statements speak only as of the date of this report or, in the case of as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future per- any document incorporated by reference, the date of that document. formance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attrib- difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may utable to the company or any person acting on the company’s differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking state- behalf are qualified by the cautionary statements in this section. ments due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: The company does not undertake any obligation to update or general U.S. and international political and economic conditions; publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to changing priorities in the U.S. government’s defense budget; termi- reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the nation of government contracts due to unilateral government date of this report. General Dynamics 2003 Annual Report 1 Letter to Shareholders Dear Fellow Shareholder: For General Dynamics, 2003 was a year of growth and accomplishment. Revenues grew 20 percent to $16.6 billion. Net income grew 9 percent to $1 billion, despite significantly reduced operating earnings at Gulfstream and sizeable charges incurred in connection with commercial shipbuilding. Cash generated by operating activities reached a record $1.7 billion. Our free cash flow from operations – cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures – was $1.5 billion, 150 percent of net income. Our strong cash flows enabled us to spend $3 billion on acquisitions, pay out $249 million in cash dividends and repurchase $300 million of General Dynamics’ shares in the open market, while increasing net debt only $2.1 billion. Each of our major business groups passed significant milestones in 2003, some of which I would like to highlight here. INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY Nicholas D. Chabraja The Information Systems and Technology group became the largest source of both revenue Chairman and and operating earnings for your company. Revenue and earnings grew an impressive 35 Chief Executive Officer percent and 23 percent, respectively. We purchased Veridian Corporation to increase our access to the growing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) markets of the Department of Defense, the national intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security. Two smaller acquisitions, Creative Technology Incorporated and Digital System Resources, further enhanced our role in this area. We also saw strong growth in our command-and-control, communications and computing (C4) businesses that serve U.S. and allied military customers. The growth in the tactical com- munications market in particular reflects the military’s drive to integrate the Soldier, Sailor, Marine and Airman into a network-centric fighting force with real-time situational awareness and the resources to rapidly identify and respond to