Some of the newest trucks coming out of General Motors assembly plants are not vehicles regular customers can find at their local dealership.
Unless, by regular, you are a purchasing agent with the Canadian Armed Forces, who awarded GM Defense Canada a C$35.8 million contract to GM Defense Canada last month to produce 90 light tactical vehicles (LTVs), with an option to procure up to 18 more. GM Defense Canada will also deliver training, technical manuals and additional vehicle content sourced from Canadian companies.
As part of the contract, GM Defense Canada is providing both nine-passenger LTVs and a new utility variant that leverage the design of a proven solution currently fielded with the U.S. Army. GM Defense Canada’s LTVs will support the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Multinational Battlegroup in Latvia, enabling soldiers to move with increased speed, range and safety across complex terrain.
“We are providing this critical capability to the Canadian Armed Forces within a timeline that meets their urgent operational requirement,” said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. “We see this contract award as the beginning of a long strategic partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces to provide enhanced tactical mobility for soldiers today and into the future.”
GM Defense Canada’s light tactical vehicle solutions are based on the mid-size Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. Weighing less than 5,000 pounds, the light and agile trucks offer air transportability, in addition to ease of maintenance and sustainment with parts that may be accessed through GM’s global supply chain.
South of the border GM unveiled its latest Next Gen tactical vehicle at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C. this week.
Technically still in the prototype phase, the Next Gen is a military vehicle based on the Oshawa-made Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD ZR2 and the GMC Sierra 2500 HD AT4X.
Power for the vehicles comes from a 2.8L Duramax turbodiesel engine with a 12-module battery pack rated at 186 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque in this application. The electrification gives the truck Silent Drive and Silent Watch modes, enabling low acoustic and thermal signatures.
While the contract was awarded to GM Canada of Oshawa, the vehicles are actually made by GM Defense LLC of the United States and will come from Concord, North Carolina.
The U.S. Army’s Next Gen tactical vehicle, based on the Oshawa-made Chevy Silverado, was unveiled this week