Exhibit 99.1

2941 Fairview Park Drive Suite 100 Falls Church, VA 22042-4513 www.generaldynamics.com News

April 19, 2006

Contact: Rob Doolittle

Tel: 703 876 3199

Fax: 703 876 3555

rdoolitt@generaldynamics.com

General Dynamics Reports Strong Earnings, Cash and Sales Growth for First Quarter 2006

• Double-digit revenue and earnings growth

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) today reported 2006 first-quarter revenues of $5.6 billion, reflecting a 16 percent increase over 2005 first-quarter revenues of $4.8 billion. Net earnings in the 2006 first quarter were $374 million, or $0.92 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to first-quarter 2005 net earnings of $336 million, or $0.83 per share fully diluted, a per-share increase of 10.8 percent. (All per-share data has been adjusted to reflect a two-for-one stock split that occurred March 24, 2006.)

Net cash provided by operating activities was $465 million for the quarter. Free cash flow from operations, defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures, was $406 million.

“General Dynamics delivered another strong performance in the first quarter of 2006,” said Nicholas D. Chabraja, General Dynamics chairman and chief executive officer. “Revenues and operating earnings increased significantly over the first quarter of 2005, reflecting growth in each of the company’s four major business groups. Margins were strong in all segments, with three of the four groups exhibiting healthy increases.

“Net cash provided by operating activities and free cash flow from operations exceeded net earnings in the quarter,” Chabraja said.

“The company sustained its strong backlog of almost $42 billion. In addition, nearly $2 billion in combat-vehicle contract awards by European customers were announced during the quarter that are not yet reflected in the backlog, and subsequent to the quarter’s end, a $464 million order was received for 306 Stryker wheeled combat vehicles for the U.S. Army’s brigade combat teams.

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“Our focus on performance at all levels of the business continues to generate positive results,” Chabraja said.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 72,700 people worldwide. 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.

Certain statements made in this press release, including any statements as to future results of operations and financial projections, may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors. Additional information regarding these factors is contained in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Forms 10-Q.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made. The company does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release.

WEBCAST INFORMATION: General Dynamics will webcast its first-quarter securities analyst conference call, scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Those accessing the webcast will be able to listen to management’s discussion of the first-quarter results, as well as the question-and-answer session with securities analysts.

The webcast will be a listen-only audio program, available at www.generaldynamics.com. A Real Audio™ player or Windows Media™ player is required to access the webcast; information about downloading those players is available on the company’s website. An on-demand replay of the webcast will be available by 2 p.m. on April 19 and will continue for 12 months.

To hear a recording of the conference call by telephone, please call 719-457-0820; passcode 3341024. It will be available from 2 p.m. on April 19 until midnight on May 3, 2006.

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF EARNINGS (UNAUDITED)

DOLLARS IN MILLIONS, EXCEPT PER SHARE AMOUNTS

	First Quarter						Variance
	2006			2005			$			%
NET SALES	$	5,570		$	4,800		$	770		16.0	%
OPERATING COSTS AND EXPENSES		4,980			4,340			(640	)
OPERATING EARNINGS		590			460			130		28.3	%
Interest, Net		(17	)		(34	)		17
Other Expense, Net		—			(1	)		1
EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAXES		573			425			148		34.8	%
Provision for Income Taxes		191			72			(119	)
EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS	$	382		$	353		$	29		8.2	%
Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax		(8	)		(17	)		9
NET EARNINGS	$	374		$	336		$	38		11.3	%
EARNINGS PER SHARE—BASIC
Continuing Operations	$	0.95		$	0.88		$	0.07		8.0	%
Discontinued Operations	$	(0.02	)	$	(0.04	)	$	0.02
Net Earnings	$	0.93		$	0.84		$	0.09		10.7	%
BASIC WEIGHTED AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING (IN MILLIONS)		401.5			401.1
EARNINGS PER SHARE—DILUTED
Continuing Operations	$	0.94		$	0.87		$	0.07		8.0	%
Discontinued Operations	$	(0.02	)	$	(0.04	)	$	0.02
Net Earnings	$	0.92		$	0.83		$	0.09		10.8	%
DILUTED WEIGHTED AVERAGE SHARES OUTSTANDING (IN MILLIONS)		404.5			404.0

Exhibit A

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NET SALES AND OPERATING EARNINGS BY SEGMENT (UNAUDITED)

DOLLARS IN MILLIONS

	First Quarter						Variance
	2006			2005			$			%
NET SALES:
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY	$	1,973		$	1,752		$	221		12.6	%
COMBAT SYSTEMS		1,369			1,057			312		29.5	%
MARINE SYSTEMS		1,275			1,210			65		5.4	%
AEROSPACE		929			753			176		23.4	%
RESOURCES/ CORPORATE		24			28			(4	)	(14.3	)%
TOTAL	$	5,570		$	4,800		$	770		16.0	%
OPERATING EARNINGS:
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY	$	220		$	197		$	23		11.7	%
COMBAT SYSTEMS		147			104			43		41.3	%
MARINE SYSTEMS		97			49			48		98.0	%
AEROSPACE		145			101			44		43.6	%
RESOURCES/ CORPORATE		(19	)		9			(28	)	(311.1	)%
TOTAL	$	590		$	460		$	130		28.3	%
OPERATING MARGINS:
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY		11.2	%		11.2	%
COMBAT SYSTEMS		10.7	%		9.8	%
MARINE SYSTEMS		7.6	%		4.0	%
AEROSPACE		15.6	%		13.4	%
RESOURCES/ CORPORATE		(79.2	)%		32.1	%
TOTAL		10.6	%		9.6	%

Exhibit B

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PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL INFORMATION (UNAUDITED)

DOLLARS IN MILLIONS EXCEPT PER SHARE AND EMPLOYEE AMOUNTS

	First Quarter 2006			First Quarter 2005
Cash	$	2,599		$	1,511
Short-term Debt	$	507		$	6
Long-term Debt		2,778			3,287
Total Debt	$	3,285		$	3,293
Net Debt	$	686		$	1,782
Shareholders’ Equity	$	8,467		$	7,396
Debt-to-Equity		38.8	%		44.5	%
Debt-to-Capital		28.0	%		30.8	%
Book Value per Share	$	20.99		$	18.38
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities	$	465		$	358
Capital Expenditures		(59	)		(41	)
Free Cash Flow from Operations (A)	$	406		$	317
Total Taxes Paid	$	29		$	33
Depreciation and Depletion	$	56		$	58
Intangible Asset Amortization		27			26
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization	$	83		$	84
Company Sponsored R&D (B)	$	83		$	80
Employment		72,700			69,400
Sales Per Employee	$	308,000		$	281,900
Shares Outstanding		403,340,055			402,460,258
Weighted Average Shares Outstanding -
Basic		401,469,419			401,114,918
Diluted		404,503,041			404,047,548

(A) The company’s management believes free cash flow from operations is a measurement that is useful to investors, because it portrays the company’s ability to generate cash from its core businesses for such purposes as repaying maturing debt, funding business acquisitions and paying dividends. The most directly comparable GAAP measure to free cash flow from operations is net cash provided by operating activities.

(B) Includes independent research and development and bid and proposal costs and Gulfstream product development costs.

Exhibit C

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BACKLOG (UNAUDITED)

DOLLARS IN MILLIONS

	First Quarter 2006
	Funded		Unfunded		Total Backlog		IDIQ Contract Value (A)		Total Estimated Contract Value
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY	$	6,322	$	2,535	$	8,857	$	5,161	$	14,018
COMBAT SYSTEMS		7,563		2,202		9,765		1,149		10,914
MARINE SYSTEMS		9,545		5,440		14,985		—		14,985
AEROSPACE		5,798		2,202		8,000		—		8,000
RESOURCES		146		—		146		—		146
TOTAL	$	29,374	$	12,379	$	41,753	$	6,310	$	48,063
	Fourth Quarter 2005
	Funded		Unfunded		Total Backlog		IDIQ Contract Value (A)		Total Estimated Contract Value
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY	$	6,960	$	2,415	$	9,375	$	4,800	$	14,175
COMBAT SYSTEMS		6,954		2,374		9,328		1,202		10,530
MARINE SYSTEMS		8,419		7,014		15,433		—		15,433
AEROSPACE		5,853		2,210		8,063		—		8,063
RESOURCES		165		—		165		—		165
TOTAL	$	28,351	$	14,013	$	42,364	$	6,002	$	48,366

(A) IDIQ contract value represents management’s estimate of the future contract value under existing indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts. Because the value in these arrangements is subject to the customer’s future exercise of an indeterminate quantity of delivery orders, the company recognizes these contracts in backlog only when they are funded.

Exhibit D

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AIRCRAFT DELIVERIES (UNAUDITED)

	First Quarter
	2006		2005
GREEN (UNITS):
LARGE AIRCRAFT		18		14
MID-SIZE AIRCRAFT		7		6
TOTAL		25		20
COMPLETIONS (UNITS):
LARGE AIRCRAFT		16		12
MID-SIZE AIRCRAFT		7		3
TOTAL		23		15
PRE-OWNED:
UNITS		3		3
SALES (millions)	$	33	$	48
OPERATING EARNINGS (millions)	$	—	$	2

Exhibit E

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RECONCILIATION OF

YEAR-TO-DATE CASH FLOW TO

CHANGE IN NET DEBT (UNAUDITED)

DOLLARS IN MILLIONS

	2006			2005
NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES	$	465		$	358
CAPITAL EXPENDITURES		(59	)		(41	)
FREE CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS		406			317
BUSINESS ACQUISITIONS		(153	)		(37	)
PROCEEDS FROM OPTION EXERCISES		101			52
DIVIDENDS		(80	)		(72	)
SHARE REPURCHASES		(18	)		(100	)
ASSET SALES		—			373
OTHER		14			2
DECREASE IN NET DEBT	$	270		$	535
NET DEBT, BEGINNING OF PERIOD		(956	)		(2,317	)
NET DEBT, END OF PERIOD	$	(686	)	$	(1,782	)

Exhibit F

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