General Dynamics To Buy Veridian

General Dynamics [NYSE: GD] has agreed to buy Veridian Corp. [NYSE: VNX], an Arlington, Va.-based remote sensing and information processing firm, for $35 per share in cash. With the assumption of Veridian’s $270 million in debt, the cost of the transaction would be approximately $1.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2003.