LONDON, U.K. – Team LionStrike—the strategic collaboration between GM Defence, BAE Systems, and NP Aerospace formed to strengthen the operational readiness of the British Armed Forces with safer, more capable, and cost-effective light utility and tactical vehicles—announced today that its proposal to the U.K.
Ministry of Defence for the Land Mobility Programme will now include the Chevrolet Silverado HD – one of the most high-performing vehicles ever built by General Motors. The Silverado HD will be shown today at Team LionStrike’s “From Proven Heritage to Present Power” event at the prestigious Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Equipped with a 6.6-litre Duramax turbodiesel V8 that produces 1,322 Nm of torque, the Silverado HD is built for serious work. In the 2500HD version, that translates to up to 9,997 kg of towing and 1,860 kg of payload, while the 3500HD (single rear wheel variant) pushes capability even further with almost 10,000 kg of towing and over 2 metric tonnes of payload.
Critically, the spacious internal capacity offers sufficient room to both transport and concurrently operate inside the vehicle with the kit and equipment required by modern-day warfighters. The logistic load space is also significant (up to 2.1m x 1.9m) enabling NATO pallet transportation.
Team LionStrike’s proposal also includes:
– The Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), a light, agile, and air-transportable troop carrier derived from the Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck that is designed to give infantry combat teams rapid mobility across complex terrain. The ISV has been selected by the armed forces of Canada and the United States as they have modernised their equipment, bringing capability, scalability, and affordability relative to bespoke military platforms.
– The Chevrolet Silverado LD pickup equipped with the 3.0-litre Duramax turbodiesel for strong low-end torque with proven capability. It delivers 671 Nm of torque and up to 6804 kg of towing and 1000 kg payload for demanding work across long distances.
“Team LionStrike’s approach — leveraging the depth, experience and highly-skilled U.K.-based workforce of BAE Systems and NP Aerospace to modify, integrate, homologate, and support vehicles built in North America by GM — is the fastest, lowest-cost path to put modern vehicles into the hands of British soldiers,” said Gilbert Nelson, Vice President, International Sales and Marketing, GM Defence. “Our foundation is commercial, off-the-shelf technology with a proven track record of quality, durability, and capability that can be OEM-adapted to meet emerging requirements. That’s how we will rapidly enhance the operational readiness of the British Armed Forces and reduce the cost and complexity of equipping, training, and deploying troops.”
The success of the Chevrolet Silverado family, together with its sister brand GMC, has made General Motors’ full-size pickups the U.S. industry leader, with more than 5 million trucks delivered over the last five years.
The Silverados and ISVs will not be the first GM trucks to support British troops. For more than a century, the designers, engineers, and manufacturing team at General Motors have delivered vehicles that have proven their quality, durability, and capability in military theatres all over the world.
1GM was the largest supplier to the U.S. armed forces during World War II, and Chevrolet and GMC trucks were the backbone of critical operations like the Red Ball Express, the massive logistic operation that supported Allied forces as they pursued the enemy forces after D-Day. In addition, the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group, an elite reconnaissance and raiding unit, relied on the Chevrolet 30 CWT to operate deep behind enemy lines in North Africa from 1940–1943. One of the Long Range Desert Group’s trucks was recovered from the Egyptian desert in 1980 and is now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum, and there have been replicas built of the Chevrolet 30 CWT to celebrate and preserve the heritage of the unit – one of which was on display at the event.
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