WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GM Defense
LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors, today announced that it has
started renovations of an existing GM building to support the
production of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), a light and agile
all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-Soldier
infantry squad. The facility, located in Concord, North Carolina, will produce ISVs for
the U.S. Army as part of a $214.3
million contract awarded to GM Defense in June 2020. GM Defense celebrated the delivery of
its first ISVs to the U.S. Army in October of the same year,
just 120 days from contract award.
Construction at the 75,000-square-foot facility is expected to
continue into early spring, and the production line will begin
delivering vehicles in April. As GM Defense ramps to full-rate
production, the facility will help to manufacture 649 ISVs and will
support the production of up to 2,065 vehicles with additional
authorization over eight years. The ISV program is the first major
award for GM Defense since the subsidiary was re-established by its
parent company in 2017.
"We have tremendous momentum behind our ISV win, featuring a
first-of-its-kind tactical wheeled vehicle that gives our Soldiers
speed, durability and performance to enhance mission success," said
Tim Herrick, interim president of GM
Defense. "GM Defense is responsible for the design, engineering and
manufacturing of the ISV. This facility will enable us to meet our
customer's timeline for delivery while continuing our journey to
bring commercial technologies and transformative mobility solutions
to the defense market."
The ISV is based off the award-winning 2020 Chevrolet Colorado
ZR2 midsize truck architecture and leverages 90 percent proven
commercial-off-the-shelf parts, including Chevrolet Performance
race components. The 5,000-pound ISV was uniquely engineered to
fulfill military requirements and designed to provide rapid ground
mobility. This expeditionary vehicle is light enough to be sling
loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and compact enough to fit
inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for air transportability. The
ISV's innovative Rollover Protection System (ROPS) will provide
agile transportability on any battleground.
The GM Defense production facility is located near North Carolina-based Hendrick Motorsports, which brings its extensive
experience developing race cars in high-load, high-risk
environments, to support defense applications. Hendrick Motorsports is responsible for
providing the chrome-moly steel exoskeleton of the vehicle frame,
including the ISV ROPS system.
GM Defense also has a teaming agreement with Ricardo Defense,
which will lead the Integrated Product Support for the ISV,
including technical manual development, new equipment training,
provisioning, total package fielding and field service support.
GM Defense is driving the future of military mobility by
leveraging the best-in-class capabilities of General Motors for
unmatched innovation, proven performance and breakthrough
life-cycle economics. The ISV will bring world class
manufacturing efficiencies, ease of maintenance and a
well-established global supply chain to the U.S. Army.
Stay tuned for future updates on www.GMDefenseLLC.com.
GM Defense LLC delivers integrated vehicles, power
& propulsion, and mobility & autonomy solutions to global
defense, security, and government markets. The exceptional
reliability of GM Defense's technologies results from decades
of proven performance and billions of dollars spent in independent
research and development by its parent, General Motors, a world
leader in global design, engineering and manufacturing
capabilities.
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SOURCE General Motors Co.