Hendrick Motorsports Making Chrome-Moly Steel Roll Bars for New GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle

GM Defense will manufacture 649 ISVs and will support the production of up to 2,065 vehicles with additional authorization over eight years. This is the first major award and delivery for GM Defense since it was reestablished in 2017.

GM Defense today announced that it has started renovations a GM building in in Concord, North Carolina to make the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), an all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-soldier 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. (see AutoInformed – GM Defense Delivers First Infantry Squad Vehicle to US Army)

A key supplier is North Carolina-based Hendrick Motorsports, which brings its extensive experience developing race cars in NASCAR’s high-load, high-risk, highly political environments. Hendrick is responsible for providing the chrome-moly steel exoskeleton of the vehicle frame, including the ISV rollover protection system.

The ISV is based off the 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 mid-size truck architecture and uses 90% off-the-shelf parts, including Chevrolet Performance race components. The 5,000-pound ISV was engineered to fulfill military requirements and designed to provide rapid ground mobility. The expeditionary vehicle is light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and can fit inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter for air transport.

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 post-GM bankruptcy bailout in 2017. No word on a civilian version.