General Dynamics Elects William A. Osborn to Board of Directors

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The board of directors of
General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) has elected William A. Osborn a director of the
corporation, effective December 1.

Osborn, age 61, is the chairman and a director of the Northern Trust
Corporation, a leading worldwide provider of investment management, asset and
fund administration, banking solutions and fiduciary services, and its
principal subsidiary, The Northern Trust Company. Osborn joined Northern
Trust in 1970. He was named president and chief operating officer in December
1993 and was named chief executive officer, in addition to president, in June
1995. He became chairman in October 1995 and ended his tenure as CEO in
December 2007. Osborn will retire from the board of Northern Trust in
November 2009.

Among other affiliations, Osborn is a director of Caterpillar Inc., Tribune
Company and Abbott Laboratories. He is chairman of the board of trustees of
Northwestern University and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, and a
trustee of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. He serves on the board
of directors of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the Chicago Urban League,
The Renaissance Schools Fund and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and he is a
member of the board of managers of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago and the
advisory board of the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at
Northwestern.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately
92,000 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation;
land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding
and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information
about the company is available online at www.generaldynamics.com.

SOURCE General Dynamics

Rob Doolittle of General Dynamics, +1-703-876-3199,
rdoolittle@generaldynamics.com