The company produced combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile launchers and precision munitions.

The company started as a division of the agricultural machine business, Food Machinery Corporation (FMC), when they won a US Federal Government contract to build the Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) and became a weapon manufacturer during World War II.

The new company restructured its operations to concentrate final assembly and testing of combat vehicles to Pennsylvania.

[2] In 1997 UDI was subject to a takeover bids by rival General Dynamics and The Carlyle Group.

[citation needed] BAE Systems' bid was referred to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to ensure there were no national security implications of the sale.