Tag Archives: General Motors

Ground Forces

Infantry Squad Vehicle

GM Defense LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors, is celebrating the first delivery of the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) – a light and agile all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-Soldier infantry squad and their equipment – to the U.S. Army as part of a $214.3 million contract awarded in June. 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 the subsidiary was reestablished by its parent company in 2017.

Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV)
GM Defense Delivers First Infantry Squad Vehicle to U.S. Army

The ISV is based off the award-winning 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck architecture and leverages 90 percent proven Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) parts, including Chevrolet Performance race components. The 5,000-pound/2,268-kilogram ISV was uniquely engineered to fulfill military requirements and designed to provide rapid ground mobility. The expeditionary ISV 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 COTS parts, combined with the ISV’s innovative Rollover Protection System, will provide agile transportability on the battlefield to support mission success.

«One hundred and twenty days from contract award to delivery is a significant milestone, and I am very proud of the team for this accomplishment», said David Albritton, president of GM Defense. «We’re leveraging General Motors’ engineering prowess and immense manufacturing capabilities to bring transformative solutions to the military vehicle market. Our initial success with the ISV shows our commitment to our customer and highlights our unique right to win in the military mobility market».

«The value we bring to our Army customer is our willingness to listen and adapt», said Mark Dickens, GM Defense chief engineer. «During Soldier testing, the feedback we received was paramount in delivering a vehicle that met Soldiers’ needs, while maximizing safety and performance and taking their comfort into consideration. The production ISV we’re delivering today is an evolution from our original prototype design, and it’s certainly a vehicle that is a source of pride for the team».

GM Defense 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.

«The success of the ISV program within 120 days is a true testament to the hard work and determination of a great partnership between GM Defense and Ricardo Defense», said Chet Gryczan, president of Ricardo Defense. «Ricardo Defense is proud to be leading the creation and integration of critical ISV logistics products to ensure a successful transition of the ISV to the Army’s inventory».

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.

Ground Forces

Infantry Squad Vehicle

The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal announced on June 26, 2020 that GM Defense LLC, a subsidiary of General Motors, has been awarded the production contract to build, field and sustain the Army’s new Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV).

GM Defense awarded a $214.3 million contract to produce the U.S. Army’s Infantry Squad Vehicle

Designed to provide rapid ground mobility, the expeditionary ISV is a light and agile all-terrain troop carrier intended to transport a nine-Soldier infantry squad moving throughout the battlefield. The ISV 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 total production ISV contract award value is $214.3 million to procure the initial Army Procurement Objective of 649. The approved Army Acquisition Objective is 2,065 vehicles.

GM Defense’s solution to the Army’s next-generation transportation needs is based off the award-winning 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck architecture and leverages 90 percent commercial off-the-shelf parts. These parts include the Multimatic dual spool-valve dampers and Chevrolet Performance suspension components. The durability and performance of those components have been proven in the grueling Best in the Desert race series, where Colorado is one of only four vehicles to complete 11 consecutive races (out of a total of 434 competitors).

As a result, GM Defense can deliver an ISV with world class manufacturing efficiencies, ease of maintenance and a well-established global supply chain. All ISV models will be equipped with an occupant and cargo superstructure powered by a 186-horsepower, 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine, and six-speed automatic transmission.

«Winning this Army award is well-deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication of our GM Defense team and their production of a fantastic vehicle. We are confident the GMD ISV will meet and exceed all of our customers’ requirements», said David Albritton, president of GM Defense. «It’s indeed an honor 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».

In 2019, GM Defense partnered with Ricardo Defense after the U.S. Army awarded three $1 million contracts to competing industry providers to develop ISV prototypes for testing, evaluation and down-selection for the production contract. Ricardo Defense will support key product logistics and fielding requirements of the GM Defense ISV.

«The entire Ricardo team is proud to continue our work with GM Defense on the ISV contract, and to provide our infantry troops in harm’s way with this highly-capable, and much needed vehicle», said Chet Gryczan, president of Ricardo Defense. «Being awarded the ISV program is a testament to Ricardo’s success in developing and delivering key integrated product logistics and life-cycle sustainment plans for our customers’ top priorities. The ISV will showcase the speed at which the Army can rapidly produce, field and sustain new equipment by leveraging a proven commercially available vehicle and the global supply chain infrastructure of General Motors, supported by Ricardo».

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.

Ground Forces

Stealthy vehicle

In a tactical situation, the last thing a Soldier wants to do is give away his position to the enemy. The ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle promises to provide that important element of stealth, said Kevin Centeck. team lead, Non-Primary Power Systems, U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center at the 2017 Washington Auto Show here Thursday, on January 27, 2017.

General Motor's ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (Photo Credit: TARDEC)
General Motor’s ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (Photo Credit: TARDEC)

The ZH2 is basically a modified Chevy Colorado, fitted with a hydrogen fuel cell and electric drive, he said. It was put together fairly quickly, from May to September, and will be tested by Soldiers in field conditions later this year.

Charley Freese, executive director of General Motor’s Global Fuel Cell Activities, explained the ZH2 is stealthy because its drive system does not produce smoke, noise, odor or thermal signature. GM developed the vehicle and the associated technologies.

The vehicle provides a number of other advantages for Soldiers:

  • The ZH2 produces high torque and comes equipped with 37-inch/94-centimeter tires that enable it to negotiate rough and steep terrain.
  • The hydrogen fuel cell can produce two gallons per hour of potable water.
  • When the vehicle isn’t moving, it can generate 25 kilowatts of continuous power or 50 kilowatts of peak power. There are 120 and 240-volt outlets located in the trunk.
  • The vehicle is equipped with a winch on the front bumper.

Doctor Paul D. Rogers, director of TARDEC, said the Army got a good deal in testing this vehicle, leveraging some $2.2 billion in GM research money spent in fuel cell research over the last several decades. The Army is always eager to leverage innovation in new technology, he added.

While GM developed the technology and produced the demonstrator, the Army’s role will be to test and evaluate the vehicle in real-world field conditions over the next near.

 

HOW IT WORKS

Electricity drives the vehicle, Centeck said. But the electricity doesn’t come from storage batteries like those found in electric cars today. Instead, the electricity is generated from highly compressed hydrogen that is stored in the vehicle by an electrochemical reaction.

A look under the hood of the ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle was allowed at the Washington Auto Show, January 26, 2017 (Photo Credit: David Vergun)
A look under the hood of the ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle was allowed at the Washington Auto Show, January 26, 2017 (Photo Credit: David Vergun)

As one of the two elements that make water (the other being oxygen), there’s plenty of hydrogen in the world. But hydrogen isn’t exactly free, Centeck pointed out. It takes a lot of electricity to separate the strong bond between hydrogen and oxygen.

That electricity could come from the grid or it could come from renewables like wind or solar, Centeck said.

Existing fuels like gasoline, propane, and natural gas can also be used to extract hydrogen, he said. The Army and GM are comparing the costs and benefits for each approach and haven’t yet settled on which approach to use.

Christopher Colquitt, GM’s project manager for the ZH2, said that the cost of producing hydrogen isn’t the only complicating factor; another is the lack of hydrogen fueling stations.

Most gas stations aren’t equipped with hydrogen pumps, Colquitt pointed out, but California and some other places in the world are in the process of building those fueling stations. For field testing purposes, the Army plans to store the hydrogen fuel in an ISO container.

Another cost involves the hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system itself. Fuel cell stacks under the hood convert hydrogen and air into useable electricity. They are composed of stacks of plates and membranes coated with platinum.

In the ZH2 demonstrator, there are about 80 grams of platinum, costing thousands of dollars, he said. But within the last few months, GM developers have managed to whittle that amount of platinum down to just 10 grams needed to produce a working vehicle, he said.

The modern-day gas and diesel combustion engine took a century to refine. Now, GM is attempting to do that similar refining with hydrogen fuel cells in just a matter of months, he said. It’s a huge undertaking.

By refining the design, Colquitt explained, he means lowering cost and providing durability, reliability and high performance. Refining doesn’t just mean using less platinum, he explained. A lot of other science went into the project, including the design of advanced pumps, sensors, compressors that work with the fuel cell technology.

Colquitt said the ZH2’s performance is impressive for such a rapidly-produced vehicle. For instance, the fuel cell produces 80 to 90 kilowatts of power and, when a buffer battery is added, nearly 130 kilowatts. The vehicle also instantly produces 236 foot-pounds/320 newton-meters of torque through the motor to the transfer case.

The range on one fill-up is about 150 miles/241 km, since this is a demonstrator, he said. If GM were actually fielding these vehicles, the range would be much greater.

 

NOT READY FOR CONSUMERS

Colquitt said hydrogen fuel cell technology hasn’t yet yielded vehicles for consumers, but GM is working on doing just that in the near future, depending on a number of factors, mainly the availability of fueling stations.

A look at the 120- and 240-volt outlets of the ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle was allowed at the Washington Auto Show, January 26, 2017 (Photo Credit: David Vergun)
A look at the 120- and 240-volt outlets of the ZH2 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle was allowed at the Washington Auto Show, January 26, 2017 (Photo Credit: David Vergun)

The Army is no stranger to the technology, he said. GM’s Equinox vehicles, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, are being used on several installations. The difference is that the ZH2 is the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to go tactical, he said.

The value of having the Army test the vehicle is that it will be driven off-road aggressively by Soldiers, who will provide their unvarnished feedback, Colquitt said. Besides collecting subjective feedback from the Soldiers, he said, the vehicle contains data loggers that will yield objective data as well.

Testers will put the vehicle through its paces this year at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Benning, Georgia; Quantico Marine Base, North Carolina; and, GM’s own Proving Grounds in Michigan.