General Dynamics wins secure phone-PDA contract

General Dynamics Corp. won an $18 million contract from the National Security Agency to design and develop a secure mobile phone/personal digital assistant, the company said yesterday.

The device will provide secure voice and data communications, including e-mail, Web access and file viewing. It will operate on existing commercial cellular networks and will have modular architecture for connectivity to a wide array of wireless protocols. It also will hook into the Defense Department's public key infrastructure using the government's standard common access card.

The contract, awarded to the General Dynamics C4 Systems business unit, is part of the Secure Mobile Environment program, which calls for a single device for government users who require "Type 1" security for wireless access to the government's Secure IP Router Network for secure Web browsing and messaging.

The company is expected to begin deliveries of the secure phone-PDA in the second quarter of 2007.

Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., General Dynamics C4 Systems specializes in command and control, communications networking, space systems, computing and information assurance.

Headquartered in Falls Church, Va., General Dynamics has about 70,800 employees and had 2004 revenue of $19.2 billion. It is No. 5 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of prime government contractors.