Monday 29th June 2020

GM to build new US Army truck

'Infantry Squad Vehicle' is based on a Chevy Colorado, seats nine and fits in a Chinook

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General Motors probably wouldn't be the first company that came to mind if you were building a new military vehicle. Drag strip heroes, yes, not so much squaddie-mobiles. However, there's a subsidiary of GM called GM Defense LLC, and they very much are about keeping soldiers mobile. In fact, they're so good at it that the US Army has awarded the firm a $214.3m contract to build, field and sustain this new Infantry Squad Vehicle, or ISV.

Looks cool, doesn't it? Which is very far from the point - because the point is "rapid ground mobility" - though the rugged, pared back functionality must have helped the ISV's cause. It can transport a nine-soldier infantry squad and is powered by 2.8-litre, 190hp diesel; despite that vast "occupant and cargo superstructure", GM says the ISV is light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk and small enough to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook. Wherever the troops will go, the ISV will (almost) always follow.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ISV, however, is its relationship to more ordinary off-roaders. It's based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 architecture, and 90 per cent of its parts are said to be regular off-the-shelf items - the result being a well-established supply of parts globally, should anything need replacing. It even uses suspension from the Chevy Performance catalogue, the same stuff that's been kickin ass in the 'Best in the Desert' race series underneath a Colorado. So it ought to do the job.

Initially, the Army Procurement Objective for these new ISVs is 649 units; the approved Army Acquisition Objective is 2,065. So this is a pretty big deal for GM Defense (alongside Ricardo Defense, who will deal with logistics and fielding requirements.) President of GM Defense, David Albritton, said of the news: "It's indeed an honor [sic] to leverage our parent company's experience as one of the world's largest automotive manufacturers to design, build and deliver the best technologies available to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and our allies."

When the ISV might be ready is unconfirmed, though future updates are due on the GM Defense website. And that has some good videos of the "ground-pounding" ISV, as well as the hydrogen fuel cell powered ZH2 and the armoured Suburban, amongst other things. Which might be as interesting as another Corvette. Might be...

 

[yme402]

Road-legal footballer/rapper version to follow.......... with full leather interior and 24” Chrome wheels.

[Krikkit]

yme402 said:

Road-legal footballer/rapper version to follow.......... with full leather interior and 24” Chrome wheels.

Just need the wheels from your favourite magpie tat provider.

[slk 32]

Built to withstand IEDs then..

[sgtBerbatov]

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

[epom]

sgtBerbatov said:

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

My first thought too, but surely you'd imagine we aren't the only ones thinking that ?

[Triumph Man]

slk 32 said:

Built to withstand IEDs then..

Can't blow the body up if there's no bodywork to blow up.

[Pablo16v]

epom said:

sgtBerbatov said:

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

My first thought too, but surely you'd imagine we aren't the only ones thinking that ?

I'm assuming there will be a range of covered versions.

[Rojo]

Reminds me of the old Landrovers.... which were phased out because they provided as much protection as a packet of crisps. % of the world I currently understand -4.

[ate one too]

Is it bullet proof ?

[loveice]

Pablo16v said:

I'm assuming there will be a range of covered versions.

With this type of military vehicle, it’s normal during the initial texting stage only the very “basic” version is used. But later on there should be other options to satisfy customers’ needs.

[RizzoTheRat]

sgtBerbatov said:

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

That's because it's not intended to deal with snipers in mountains. I assume it will be used for reconnaissance and to get fire support teams around in a hurry, like a lighter version of the British Army's Jackal

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 29th June 10:55

[jwwbowe]

RizzoTheRat said:

sgtBerbatov said:

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

That's because it's not intended to deal with snipers in mountains. I assume it will be used for reconnaissance and to get fire support teams around in a hurry, like a lighter version of the British Army's Jackal



Very true. Though the Jackal is a purpose designed piece of kit with a V shaped underbody for mine/ied protection. Not sure how well a truck made from 90% COTS parts will stand up to that type of threat. However the benefit of that is it does bring more options for repair to a good bush mechanic!

But as you say it depends on it’s intended use, you would hope that it would be used in mobile reconnaissance and wouldn’t be used in an urban or static open hostile environments.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 29th June 10:55

[Numeric]

jwwbowe said:

RizzoTheRat said:

sgtBerbatov said:

The ideal vehicle to deal with snipers in the mountain. It's like the designer(s) of this monstrosity don't have, or never have had, loved family members in the military.

That's because it's not intended to deal with snipers in mountains. I assume it will be used for reconnaissance and to get fire support teams around in a hurry, like a lighter version of the British Army's Jackal



Very true. Though the Jackal is a purpose designed piece of kit with a V shaped underbody for mine/ied protection. Not sure how well a truck made from 90% COTS parts will stand up to that type of threat. However the benefit of that is it does bring more options for repair to a good bush mechanic!

But as you say it depends on it’s intended use, you would hope that it would be used in mobile reconnaissance and wouldn’t be used in an urban or static open hostile environments.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 29th June 10:55

I've never quite understood the logic of these - while designed to deflect mines wouldn't the obvious exposure to small arms fire, especially to the driver, render them utterly unusable near a front line or guerilla environment? I realise this must have been all thought through, but I don't see how these are better than a landrover except to IED - or is this really the primary threat these days and you expect them to miss with the first few rounds so you can then return fire? Not saying they are not a huge improvement over the land-rover, but that wasn't much of a bench mark.

[NGK210]

As GM has an unenviable and far-reaching track record for unreliability and zealous adherence to the concept of ‘every expense spared’, I’m genuinely confused as to how and why GM has won this contract?

[das_funky_zeit]

It looks ready for a 2020 Mad Max remake

[RizzoTheRat]

Numeric said:

I've never quite understood the logic of these - while designed to deflect mines wouldn't the obvious exposure to small arms fire, especially to the driver, render them utterly unusable near a front line or guerilla environment? I realise this must have been all thought through, but I don't see how these are better than a landrover except to IED - or is this really the primary threat these days and you expect them to miss with the first few rounds so you can then return fire? Not saying they are not a huge improvement over the land-rover, but that wasn't much of a bench mark.

The Landrover WMIK they replaced had reached (and probably exceeded) the limit of what it could carry. The idea of the Jackal is it's a fast light cavalry reconnaissance vehicle, and a heavy fire support platform (1/2" Heavy Machine Gun or 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher) for the infantry. In theory its main defences are speed, manoeuvrability, and long range firepower, rather than armour, although there are a lot of additional bolt on armour bits for it.
Heavier Protected Mobility vehicles like Mastiff and Foxhoud, that have replaced the Snatch landrovers, aren't particularly mobile, so are easier to hit, especially with IEDs as they're limited in where they can go.

[300bhp/ton]

pistonheads said:

General Motors probably wouldn't be the first company that came to mind if you were building a new military vehicle.

Why do you say/think this? GM is one of the worlds largest automakers. Most automakers have or do build vehicles for the military. Why on Earth would you find it surprising the US would pick a US company??

It's not as if they haven't built vehicles for the US military previously.

CUCV M1008

[Syristix]

If the $214m budget is for the 649 initial units that's $330,200 and change per ISV for a parts bin machine with less metal than the colorado it's built on...

If they add protection to it how's the 2.9 180bhp engine going to cope? Fuel bills will be alot cheaper than a hummer but I can see troops driving them into the ground where operationally possible than selecting one of these...



The dagor ISV (above) that was competing with it for the contract looks equally 'windy'...

$1m was given to both parties to come up with their prototypes... GM must have been laughing all the way to the bank...

[Syristix]

300bhp/ton said:

Why do you say/think this? GM is one of the worlds largest automakers. Most automakers have or do build vehicles for the military. Why on Earth would you find it surprising the US would pick a US company??

It's not as if they haven't built vehicles for the US military previously.

CUCV M1008

Looks like an A-team Props re-union..

[Jader1973]

NGK210 said:

As GM has an unenviable and far-reaching track record for unreliability and zealous adherence to the concept of ‘every expense spared’, I’m genuinely confused as to how and why GM has won this contract?

Because it will be cheap.

It appears they have basically taken the body off a Colorado chassis, left the necessary hard points (i.e. firewall, inner wings, floor) and stuck some army bits on it. I suspect that then makes it way cheaper than anything custom built for the army. AFAIK none of the other US auto manufacturers have a military vehicle division so wouldn't be able to provide anything, and everyone else is "foreign".

It is basically the American version of this: