Its business is split among separate groups that have little in common beyond their owner. The largest builds ships for the American navy: nuclear submarines, destroyers, and the supply ships that refuel a fleet at sea. The next sells information technology, meaning the networks and software that military, intelligence and civilian agencies use to communicate and plan.
The remaining groups are just as unlike each other. One makes business jets under the Gulfstream name and services them at airports in several countries. The other builds tanks and armored vehicles, and it also produces artillery shells and tank rounds.
One customer stands above all the others. The U.S. government paid for 68% of what General Dynamics sold in 2025. The navy's order for 12 Columbia submarines, which will carry nuclear missiles, shows what such a customer buys: a program worth more than $125 billion, built over two decades.
The way such a sale is counted matters. General Dynamics does not record it when a boat is finished; it records it bit by bit, as it spends on the work. A single submarine therefore adds to sales year after year.
Jets work differently. A wealthy company or individual buys the aircraft, then often pays General Dynamics to maintain and manage it. More than 3,000 Gulfstreams are flying today. Looking ahead, the company points to its newest long-range jet, which entered service in 2025, to a smaller model meant to replace an older one, and to the first Columbia boat, due in 2028.
A shipyard paid by the navy and a jet maker selling to the rich do not earn their money in the same way. They may not keep the same share of each sale either.
