United Defense Receives Award for Water Security System

Contact:
Herb Muktarian
United Defense
herb.muktarian@baesystems.com
(717) 225-8004

YORK, PA, February 1, 2005 - United Defense Industries, Inc. (NYSE: UDI) recently received the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s (FLC) 2004 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for integrating AquaSentinel technology in the company’s WaterSentry(TM) first-alert water security system at the 2004 Federal Laboratory Consortium Southeast Region Conference.

United Defense received this award with Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the development of a technology that provides early warning of chemical contamination in primary-source water supplies.

"United Defense is pleased that the Federal Laboratory Consortium recognized WaterSentry's technology for its impact on water security and homeland defense," said Steven McCarter, United Defense WaterSentry Project Manager. "WaterSentry provides a new and valuable level of first-alert water security for military and civilian drinking water supplies."

WaterSentry offers an automated, continuous, rapid and broad-trigger detection capability against water-borne chemical toxins by innovatively monitoring the natural activity of green algae without the need for chemical agents to conduct testing. As a result, WaterSentry is capable of detecting a chemical toxin's presence at the levels anticipated during military conflicts, terrorist attacks on civilian water supplies, or regulatory violations.

United Defense developed the WaterSentry water security alert system, integrating licensed AquaSentinel technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, for use in first alert homeland security, military and regulatory applications.

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 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.