General Dynamics Land Systems was awarded an additional $19 million to convert 15 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's M1A1 tanks into the M1A2S model. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command on behalf of the Royal Saudi Land Forces.
The M1A2S vehicles will possess defined capabilities that increase lethality while limiting obsolescence. The work will be performed by current employees at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2012.

This contract is an addition to a $58 million contract awarded in 2008, and modified in 2009, for General Dynamics to design, develop, convert, implement and test a hybrid configuration of the M1A1, M1A2 and M1A2 System Enhancement Package (SEP) tank variants for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The 2009 award of $17.6 million was for the purchase of long lead materials for the 15-tank conversion.