United Defense Integrates and Fires ETC Gun from Combat Vehicle.

MINNEAPOLIS -- First sentence should read: achieved an industry first recently (sted achieved an industry recently).

The corrected release reads:

UNITED DEFENSE INTEGRATES AND FIRES ETC GUN FROM COMBAT VEHICLE

United Defense Industries, Inc. (NYSE:UDI) achieved an industry first recently when it successfully fired a 120mm Electrothermal Chemical (ETC) gun from a hybrid electric drive combat vehicle.

This effort, using a fully integrated 100kJ pulse power system, was accomplished through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army's Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). ARDEC is the Army's center of excellence for armament systems development.

"This series of tests demonstrated that pulse power can be safely integrated into a combat vehicle," said Brad Goodell, Advanced Armaments Program Manager at United Defense. "Both ETC and conventional rounds were fired in the same salvo merely by changing round selection through a fire control command."

United Defense developed an autoloader that successfully loaded and ejected rounds and stub cases from the vehicle. Stub cases are steel cases that transport and hold the propellant. The fully automatic breech power connection, utilized in the demonstration, was designed such that electricity reached only the propellant, but not any other part of the cannon or vehicle.

According to industry experts, ETC technology can significantly enhance accuracy of direct fire weapons, using pulsed power in conjunction with modified, fielded weapon systems and ammunition. The modification to the ammunition requires replacing the conventional igniter within the round with a plasma igniter. Plasma ignition significantly reduces the variations in projectile exit times. This increase in ignition control allows plasma ignition to become the critical element of an advanced fire control capability called "precision aiming." Precision aiming uses gun muzzle position sensors, advanced fire control algorithms, and plasma ignition to virtually eliminate gun pointing error. Reduction in pointing error increases accuracy, especially when the vehicle is moving and the pointing errors dominate.

Vehicle survivability is also enhanced when using this ETC technology because engagements can be at longer range, and at higher cross country speeds. This technology has a broad range of applications, including applications to existing and future direct fire weapons platforms.

About United Defense

United Defense designs, develops and produces combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and precision munitions used by the U.S. Department of Defense and allies worldwide, and provides non-nuclear ship repair, modernization and conversion to the U.S. Navy and other U.S. Government agencies. To learn more about United Defense, visit http://www.uniteddefense.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information in this release may involve guidance, expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. All forward-looking statements included in this release are based upon information available to United Defense Industries, Inc., as of the date of the release, and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences. Please refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 as well as its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June, 2004, and in our other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a further discussion of the factors and risks associated with our business.