Lockheed Martin and GM Defense are linking commercial auto manufacturing with defense production in an effort to speed up how the US builds military systems at scale.
This collaboration is structured as an exploratory framework that will assess how high-rate production techniques can be applied to defense systems.
Lockheed Martin brings established defense manufacturing expertise, while GM Defense contributes large-scale commercial engineering capabilities.
Initial work will focus on three areas: improving supply chain resilience, advancing design processes, and evaluating commercial production infrastructure. Early efforts will center on identifying specific pilot projects before moving into any scaled production commitments.
“America’s security depends not only on developing advanced technologies, but on our ability to produce them quickly, reliably and at scale,” Lockheed Martin COO Frank St. John said.
Strengthening US Defense Through Partnerships
Broader efforts to improve US defense have increasingly relied on similar cross-sector collaborations.
In June, Palladyne AI and Israel Aerospace Industries entered a strategic partnership to market the HARPY, HAROP, and Mini HARPY loitering munitions to the Pentagon, giving Palladyne exclusive rights to assemble and sell the systems in US-configured variants.
The same month, American Rheinmetall and Harbinger teamed up to develop next-generation unmanned ground vehicles for the US military, focusing on autonomous tactical vehicles, logistics resupply systems, and robotic ground platforms.
In April, Hanwha Ocean and Leidos announced a collaboration to design and develop next-generation US Navy vessels and expand shipbuilding capacity, including joint work on surface combatant concepts and a broader US–South Korea production network.
