Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of State awarded GM Defense LLC a 10-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity full-rate production contract to supply next generation heavy-duty armored SUVs to its Diplomatic Security Service, General Motors said in a press release.
- GM Defense was awarded an initial task order valued at $25 million through the IDIQ contract, which includes vehicles, training and engineering services.
- The IDIQ contract means that the General Services Administration has not determined the precise number of armored SUVs the government will request during the 10-year term, but the contract has a ceiling value of $300 million.
Dive Insight:
The contract follows the development and validation contract awarded to GM Defense in 2021 to deliver prototype vehicles for testing and evaluation. This summer, GM Defense hosted State Department leaders to demonstrate its new HD SUV prototype.
GM said it will use advanced manufacturing tools and processes to support low-volume production of the armored vehicles, which will be warrantied by the automaker.
For example, GM plans to add protective armor during the manufacturing process of the HD SUVs, rather than the past approach of tearing down and modifying the vehicles after they have been built. According to GM, this will provide better vehicle performance while improving build and lead times, resulting in faster delivery times.
The armored SUVs will use a high percentage of commercial-off-the-shelf GM parts, including the body, exterior, propulsion, interior and brake systems. The vehicles will also feature a new body-on-frame chassis and suspension designed to support the additional weight of the vehicles, as well as rugged performance requirements, according to GM.
“This is a very important program for GM Defense as it showcases our ability to leverage the proven commercial platforms and world-class engineering and manufacturing processes of GM to provide a first-of-its-kind vehicle for the Department of State,” said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense, in the press release.
GM has supplied defense and other advanced mobility technologies to the U.S. government for over 100 years, including the first Lunar Roving Vehicle that drove on the moon during NASA’s Apollo 15 mission.
