General Motors starts manufacturing components for Patriot missiles in the US

General Motors started manufacturing missile parts. The automaker delivered in August the first batch of housing components for the PAC-3 MSE interceptors, the most advanced surface-to-air missiles of the Patriot system, produced by Lockheed Martin. The information was published by the Wall Street Journal.

What caught the attention of the arms industry was the deadline. Similar components usually take months to be ready in the traditional supply chain. GM completed the order in three weeks.

The order is born of specific pressure: the Pentagon is demanding from Lockheed Martin a sharp increase in the production of high-tech ammunition, after American stocks were consumed by support for Ukraine, exposed to Russian bombardments, and the war against Iran. In January, the government ordered the manufacturer to more than triple production of the Patriot, until it exceeds 2,000 missiles a year by the end of 2030.

The bottleneck is industrial. The most sophisticated interceptor in the line costs more than US$ 4 million per unit (about R$ 20.5 million) and takes more than two years to reach the military customer, because much of the critical parts are still handmade and come from exclusive suppliers, such as Boeing. It is at this point that the automakers’ experience in high-volume production has become attractive to the defense sector, which has spent the last year trying to assemble a new supplier base for the Patriot.

Defense division expanding

The move fits into GM’s strategy to expand its defense area, described by the Wall Street Journal as small but growing. Chief Executive Mary Barra projected revenue of $700 million in that segment this year, with double-digit margins. The company already supplies troop carriers to the U.S. military, but the production of missile components represents a step forward in that relationship.

Neither GM nor Lockheed Martin said the size of the order or whether the partnership will continue. There is also no indication that other GM plants outside the United States will be involved in the supply.

GM is not the only American automaker to approach the arms industry. According to the newspaper, the Pentagon articulates agreements between arms manufacturers and companies in the automotive sector, including Ford, to rebuild arsenals considered strategic.