diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 282c67d29..6d51d2190 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
   <property name="testreport.dir" value="target/testreports"/>
   <property name="dist.dir" value="target/dist"/>
 
-  <property name="version" value="2.4" />
+  <property name="version" value="3.0" />
 
   <path id="build.classpath">
     <pathelement location="${antlr.jar}" />
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@
           description="Checks whether the grammar file is newer that the generated code">
     <uptodate property="uptodate.antlr"
               targetfile="${checkstyle.dir}/GeneratedJava14Lexer.java" >
-      <srcfiles dir= "${checkstyle.dir}" includes="java_new.g,java.g,java14.g"/>
+      <srcfiles dir= "${checkstyle.dir}" includes="java_new.g,java14_new.g,java.g,java14.g"/>
     </uptodate>
   </target>
 
@@ -85,12 +85,20 @@
   <!-- which creates lots of problems. -->
   <target name="build.antlr" depends="check.antlr" unless="uptodate.antlr"
           description="Conditionally compiles the grammar files">
-    <java classname="antlr.Tool"
-          classpath="${antlr-tools.jar}"
-          fork="yes"
-          dir="${checkstyle.dir}">
-      <arg value="java_new.g" />
-    </java>
+      <java classname="antlr.Tool"
+            classpath="${antlr-tools.jar}"
+            fork="yes"
+            dir="${checkstyle.dir}">
+        <arg value="java_new.g" />
+      </java>
+      <java classname="antlr.Tool"
+            classpath="${antlr-tools.jar}"
+            fork="yes"
+            dir="${checkstyle.dir}">
+        <arg value="-glib" />
+        <arg value="java_new.g" />
+        <arg value="java14_new.g" />
+      </java>
     <java classname="antlr.Tool"
           classpath="${antlr-tools.jar}"
           fork="yes"
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java14_new.g b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java14_new.g
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3ede2f7a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java14_new.g
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+// checkstyle: Checks Java source code for adherence to a set of rules.
+// Copyright (C) 2001-2002  Oliver Burn
+//
+// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+// modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+// as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+// of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+// Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
+////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+header {
+package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle;
+
+import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.DetailAST;
+}
+
+
+/** Java 1.4 Recognizer
+ *
+ * Based heavily on the Grammer example that comes with ANTLR. See
+ * http://www.antlr.org.
+ *
+ */
+class Java14Recognizer extends JavaRecognizer;
+
+// Options don't get inherited, copy of option block required.
+options {
+	k = 2;                           // two token lookahead
+	exportVocab=Java14;              // Call its vocabulary "Java14"
+	codeGenMakeSwitchThreshold = 2;  // Some optimizations
+	codeGenBitsetTestThreshold = 3;
+	defaultErrorHandler = false;     // Don't generate parser error handlers
+	buildAST = true;
+}
+
+// overrides the statement production in java.g, adds assertStatement
+statement
+	:	traditionalStatement
+	|	assertStatement
+	;
+
+// assert statement, available since JDK 1.4
+assertStatement
+	:	ASSERT^ expression ( COLON! expression )? SEMI!
+	;
+
+class Java14Lexer extends JavaLexer;
+
+options {
+	exportVocab=Java14;    // call the vocabulary "Java14",
+	testLiterals=false;    // don't automatically test for literals
+	k=4;                   // four characters of lookahead
+	charVocabulary='\u0003'..'\uFFFF';
+	codeGenBitsetTestThreshold=20;
+}
+
+tokens {
+        ASSERT="assert";
+}
+
+// antlr expects a definition here: 'unexpected token: null'
+// To avoid that message, one definition from GeneratedJavaLexer
+// is repeated. Rather inelegant but I didn't find a better solution :-(
+// Feel free to improve this...
+protected
+FLOAT_SUFFIX
+	:	'f'|'F'|'d'|'D'
+	;
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java_new.g b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java_new.g
index ad020d911..2bce61116 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java_new.g
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/java_new.g
@@ -440,8 +440,15 @@ compoundStatement
 		RCURLY!
 	;
 
-
+// This production provides a slot for adding additional statement productions.
+// It is used to simplify an inherited grammar that includes assert statements
+// (new Java language feature in JDK 1.4)
 statement
+	:	traditionalStatement
+	;
+
+// a traditional (JDK < 1.4) java statement, assert keyword is not allowed
+traditionalStatement
 	// A list of statements in curly braces -- start a new scope!
 	:	compoundStatement