General Dynamics Adopts a Majority Voting Standard for Director Elections

FALLS CHURCH, Va., March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- General Dynamics announced today that its board of directors unanimously approved an amendment to the company's Corporate Governance Guidelines that establishes a majority voting standard for director elections.

Under the amended guidelines, any director nominees who receive more "withheld" votes than "for" votes in an uncontested election will be required to tender their resignation for consideration by the board's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. The committee then will consider the best interests of General Dynamics and its shareholders and promptly recommend to the full board whether to accept the tendered resignation or take some other action. The board will act on those recommendations within 90 days of the election and will disclose its decision via a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nicholas D. Chabraja, chairman of the General Dynamics board and chief executive officer, said, "This policy will give shareholders a stronger voice in the election of directors and strengthens our board's accountability to shareholders. This decision is another example of General Dynamics' commitment to responding to shareholder concerns and demonstrating leadership in addressing corporate governance issues."

The amendment to the Corporate Governance Guidelines was adopted at the board's March 1 meeting and was effective immediately.

The full text of the company's Corporate Governance Guidelines may be found in the "Investor Relations" section of the company's website (http://www.generaldynamics.com/).

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 72,200 people worldwide and had 2005 revenue of $21.2 billion. The company is a market leader in mission-critical information systems and technologies; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and business aviation.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements.