GM moved from handshake to hardware fast, delivering castings that form the exterior of PAC-3 missiles to Lockheed Martin 22 days after the partnership was signed, according to a Thursday statement. It is the first delivery under the new tie-up and landed in under a month.
Washington wants more missiles, faster. To speed production, President Donald Trump relied on the War Powers Act, directing defense contractors and other U.S. manufacturers to rebuild thinning stocks of missiles and munitions, with the shortage attributed partly to the war with Iran and to Russia's war on Ukraine. The GM-Lockheed pairing hints at a modern, smaller-scale echo of Detroit's World War II pivot, when auto plants produced armored vehicles, troop carriers, bombers, and other matériel.
In January, Lockheed reached an agreement with the Pentagon that will boost Patriot missile output threefold. Under its agreement with GM, the Detroit-based automaker is producing castings and other components and bringing its high-volume manufacturing know-how. The shift enables Lockheed - and possibly other defense firms - to ramp up missile production so the armed forces are supplied worldwide in times of conflict. For GM, it is another step in growing its young defense unit, which mainly sells pickup trucks used to transport U.S. Army troops.
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At 9:33 a.m. in New York on Thursday, GM was up 3.1% shortly after the market opened, and it had risen 3.7% for the year through Wednesday's close. Lockheed Martin's stock was largely unchanged Thursday. People familiar said in June that GM has also discussed similar collaborations with RTX and L3Harris Technologies. If more automakers and defense primes team up like this, production could speed up where bottlenecks are tightest, which could ripple through suppliers and local manufacturing hubs.
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