Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp.'s board of directors met Wednesday to consider a successor to Chief Executive Nicholas Chabraja, who plans to retire next summer.Chabraja, 65, told reporters after the company's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday morning that he will step down at the end of June 2009. He said the board would discuss a replacement later in the day, but did not give specifics on when an announcement would be made. "It's been a great run," Chabraja said of his nearly 11-year tenure as CEO. "The company has done spectacularly well. I've been privileged to lead it."

In a conference call last month, Chabraja said a decision on his replacement already had been made and that a successor would be publicly named this month. But he told Wall Street analysts on the call that the board had to meet again to finalize its choice.



Chabraja will not leave the executive office empty-handed. According to the company's proxy statement filed in March with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Chabraja will receive a retirement package worth more than $67 million from the vesting of stock options, the value of his pension and other perks.

That amount likely will change by the time Chabraja retires, since much of the package's value comes from stock options that are affected by changes in the company's share price.

Some analysts have speculated that Chabraja's successor will be an executive inside the company, but Chabraja would not comment.

Falls Church-based General Dynamics is one of the nation's largest defense contractors, making everything from warships to bullets for the military. Its armored vehicle division, which builds tanks and armored vehicles, has benefited from heavy Pentagon spending on wars in Iraq (web|news) and Afghanistan.

Last month, the company reported a 32 percent jump in quarterly profit, much of it from work retrofitting and fixing vehicles for the Army. The company made $2.1 billion in 2007, an 11 percent increase from 2006.

Chabraja was the company's longtime lawyer before he became an executive vice president in 1994. In 1997, he became chairman and CEO, a relatively unusual pick in a highly technical industry where top executives often rise from the ranks of engineers or program managers.

Under Chabraja, the company expanded, reversing several years of contraction during which General Dynamics sold off marquis such as its fighter division, which made the F-16 jet, and the Cessna Aircraft company.

During Chabraja's time as a company executive, General Dynamics purchased ship maker Bath Iron Works, private jet maker Gulfstream Aerospace, General Motors' defense unit, and the information technology company Anteon International.

Shares of General Dynamics rose 13 cents to $90.29 in morning trading.

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