headquarters savannah georgia u.s. area served worldwide key people mark burns president products jet business aircraft number of employees 13 313 1 parent general dynamics website gulfstream.com gulfstream aerospace corporation is an american wholly owned subsidiary of general dynamics . gulfstream designs develops manufactures markets and services business jet aircraft . gulfstream has produced more than 2 000 aircraft since 1958 . gulfstream s range consists of the g150 g280 g350 g450 g500 g550 g600 and g650 . contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 1960s 1.3 1970s 1.4 1980s 1.5 1990s 1.6 2000s 1.7 2010s 1.8 government and special mission aircraft 2 products 2.1 current products 2.2 product history 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit origins edit the company that evolved into gulfstream aerospace corp. started in the late 1950s when grumman aircraft engineering co. known for military aircraft production developed a business aircraft at its facilities in bethpage n.y. called the grumman gulfstream i g i . the g i could seat 12 passengers had a maximum speed of 350 mph 560 km h at 25 000 feet 7 620 m and a range of 2 200 miles 3 540 km . 2 the new aircraft the first of its kind designed for business travel was a success prompting grumman to develop the jet powered grumman gulfstream ii or gii . 1960s edit at the start of the gii program grumman officials separated the company s civil and military aircraft production to improve efficiency . in 1966 they relocated the civilian component to savannah georgia where they found a supply of skilled labor an airfield adjacent to the plant and room for expansion . transportation facilities suitable for heavy equipment and machinery as well as weather favorable to year round flight testing and flight training operations enhanced savannah s appeal . the new building opened in june 1967 and was dedicated on september 29 1967 . it housed production and flight testing for the gii . the 100 person work force that built the gii was 90 % local and grew to over 1 700 within a few years . citation needed 1970s edit in 1972 grumman merged with light aircraft manufacturer american aviation corp. the 256th and final gii delivery took place in 1977 . one year later the gulfstream line and the savannah plant were sold to american jet industries which was headed by entrepreneur allen paulson . 3 paulson became the president and ceo of the company renaming it gulfstream american . he made a priority of developing the gulfstream iii a new aircraft designed to achieve greater range and speed than the gii . the giii made its first flight in december 1979 with the first delivery in 1980 . it was the first business jet to fly over both poles . 2 1980s edit gulfstream g450 in 1981 gulfstream introduced the gulfstream giib . the giib had a modified gii fuselage and the giii wings complete with winglets . the variant offered weight and performance characteristics similar to the giii but with the shorter gii fuselage . gulfstream completed and delivered approximately 40 giibs . 2 under paulson the savannah work force grew to 2 500 by the spring of 1982 . also in this year the company s name changed to gulfstream aerospace corp. to reflect its worldwide scope and a new plane the gulfstream iv was conceived . the following year gulfstream offered 8.8 million shares of stock to the public . in 1985 chrysler corp. acquired gulfstream for 637 million as part of the automaker s plan to diversify into high tech industries . 4 this was also the year that gulfstream first appeared on the fortune 500 list at no. 417 . two years later the 200th and last gulfstream iii was delivered and the first delivery of a gulfstream iv took place . the giv was the first jet in business aviation to have an all glass cockpit . 5 in 1989 chrysler decided to sell gulfstream and paulson teamed with forstmann little & co. a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts and bought gulfstream back . 1990s edit the decade that followed the 1989 repurchase was a time of significant advancements for gulfstream . the company signed a five year contract with netjets in 1994 . it completed the gulfstream v integration test facility and rolled out the gv the first ultra long range business jet in 1995 . 2 the opening of a 16 million savannah service center with 136 000 square feet 12 630 m2 of hangar space followed in 1996 . in 1997 gulfstream began the simultaneous manufacture of two aircraft models the giv sp and the gv . within a few months of the gv s first delivery in june 1997 it set nearly 40 city pair and or speed and distance records and its development team was awarded the 1997 robert j. collier trophy the highest honor in aeronautics or astronautics in north america . 4 in 1998 gulfstream purchased k c aviation from kimberly clark corp. for 250 million which had operations in dallas appleton wisconsin and westfield massachusetts . 6 2000s edit at the end of the 1990s general dynamics purchased gulfstream 7 and it opened a 5.5 million aircraft refurbishment and completions support facility in savannah in 2000 . in 2001 it acquired galaxy aerospace and with it the mid size astra spx and super mid size galaxy which were later rebranded the gulfstream g100 and gulfstream g200 respectively . 2 also in 2001 gulfstream purchased four u.s. maintenance facilities in dallas las vegas minneapolis and west palm beach florida . those service centers along with a gulfstream facility in westfield massachusetts formed general dynamics aviation services which maintained and repaired gulfstream and other business jet aircraft . in 2002 gulfstream renamed its products using arabic numerals instead of roman numerals to differentiate its aircraft . at the time the company s lineup included the ultra long range gulfstream g550 and g500 the long range gulfstream g400 the mid range gulfstream g300 and g200 and the high speed g100 . 2002 was also the year that gulfstream introduced its airborne product support aircraft a specially equipped g100 . 2 it is used to deliver parts and provide any time service to gulfstream customers in north america and the caribbean who are operating aircraft under warranty . in 2003 gulfstream acquired a service center at the london luton airport the first gulfstream owned service center to be operated outside the united states . also in 2003 the long range gulfstream g450 was introduced . the large cabin mid range g350 was presented a year later . in 2004 gulfstream was awarded the 2003 collier trophy for the development of the g550 . 8 it was the second time in less than a decade that gulfstream had won the award . the g550 is the first civil aircraft to receive a type certificate issued by the federal aviation administration faa that includes an enhanced vision system evs as standard equipment on an aircraft . the aircraft also contained the first cockpit to incorporate planeview an integrated avionics suite featuring four 14 inch 36 cm liquid crystal displays in landscape format . in 2005 gulfstream began to offer an in flight internet connection its broad band multi link bbml system . gulfstream also designed and developed a means of reducing the sonic boom caused by an aircraft breaking the sound barrier the quiet spike . 2 the quiet spike is a telescopic nose device that softens the effect of the sonic boom by smoothing the pressure wave created by flying at the speed of sound . 9 gulfstream views lifting the current us supersonic ban as essential for a viable business case for supersonic aircraft . 10 private gulfstream g650 departs bristol airport england 2014 in 2006 the 12 year production run of the g100 ended and the gulfstream g150 entered service to take its place . the g150 was the first business jet to be certified by the faa for stage 4 the industry s most stringent noise standards . also in 2006 gulfstream announced plans to expand its manufacturing and service facilities in savannah . the seven year 400 million long range facilities master plan included the creation of a new 624 588 square foot 58 030 m2 service center an independent fuel farm a 42 600 square foot 3 960 m2 paint hangar and the addition of a new sales and design center . citation needed as a result of the expansion employment at the facility was expected to grow by some 1 100 jobs . to meet the immediate need for engineering office space gulfstream opened a research and development center rdc . the rdc accommodates approximately 750 technical and engineering employees . in april 2007 gulfstream broke ground for a new business jet manufacturing building at its headquarters in savannah . the following month the company signed a nine year lease with north point real estate for a second research and development center . the rdc ii consists of an office building which can accommodate 550 employees and a laboratory building which is designed for 150 employees and test equipment used in gulfstream s research and development work . gulfstream completed the new sales and design center addition in june and officially opened the first phase of the new savannah service center in august . in 2007 gulfstream tested its synthetic vision primary flight display sv pfd and evs ii together for the first time . the sv pfd is an enhancement to the gulfstream planeview flight displays . it features a three dimensional color image of terrain overlaid with the primary flight display instrument symbology which are arranged on the screen to create a large view area for terrain . by early 2008 the faa had certified both evs ii and sv pfd . on march 13 2008 gulfstream announced the introduction of a new business jet the gulfstream g650 . the g650 offers the longest range fastest speed largest cabin and most advanced cockpit in the gulfstream fleet . it is capable of traveling 7 000 nautical miles 12 960 km ; 8 060 mi at mach .85 or will cover shorter distances at a speed of mach 0.925 making it the fastest civilian aircraft flying . it can climb to 51 000 feet 15 540 m allowing it to avoid airline traffic congestion and adverse weather . on october 5 of the same year gulfstream announced another addition to its business jet fleet the large cabin mid range gulfstream g250 later renamed the gulfstream g280 . it is capable of traveling 3 600 nautical miles 6 670 km ; 4 140 mi at 0.80 mach and has a maximum operating speed of 0.85 mach . it can reach its 41 000 foot 12 500 m initial cruise altitude in 20 minutes and can climb to a maximum altitude of 45 000 feet 13 720 m . in 2009 the company conducted two powered rollouts one week apart . the gulfstream g650 officially rolled out of the savannah manufacturing facility under its own power on september 29 2009 . the g280 followed just one week later . both the g650 and the g280 flew before the end of 2009 . the g650 took its first flight on november 25 while the g280 went up for the first time on december 11 . this is false information 2010s edit in november 2010 gulfstream announced an expansion of its savannah facilities through a 500 million seven year plan . the growth resulted in 1 000 additional gulfstream jobs an increase of more than 15 percent . in addition to the savannah expansion gulfstream s sites in westfield massachusetts usa and luton england also grew in 2011 . in october gulfstream announced an expansion of its service center at the barnes regional airport in