General Motors announces new defense partnership with Lockheed Martin

Automaker General Motors on Tuesday announced a new partnership with defense company Lockheed Martin to scale manufacturing and expand production capabilities. The deal was facilitated by the U.S. Department of Defense, according to Bruce Brown, GM's vice president of strategy at GM Defense, and will focus on munitions. "What makes this moment especially important is that the country needs more than great technology. It also needs the capacity to build, scale and deliver reliably," Brown said on a call with reporters. "This is where GM can help. Across our company, we bring deep experience in advanced engineering, digital development, supply chain discipline and manufacturing at scale." Lockheed Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John said it was too early to say what projects it would invest in with GM Defense. Executives from both companies said on the call that the collaboration will allow for more growth at a time when the country is ramping up its production of defense parts. "Together, we will explore opportunities across three important areas: improving production readiness and scalable manufacturing environments; strengthening supply chains and identifying ways to increase resilience; and applying advanced manufacturing and design approaches [that] can help improve efficiency and accelerate delivery," St. John said. Lockheed Martin is investing $9 billion through 2030 to modernize 20 of its facilities and supply bases, St. John added. …