General Motors announces new defense partnership with Lockheed Martin

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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 and more.

"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. GM said it will spend $7 billion on research and development in the U.S., according to Brown.

The executives said the partnership will be focused on "high-rate manufacturing" at scale and expanding production capacity. They added that the collaboration is still in early stages and that they need to further define what the potential for future contracts may be. They are working under a memorandum of understanding.

The automaker built tanks for the country during World War II. Its GM Defense unit is one of the company's newer but fast-growing business segments, reestablished in 2017 with customers including the U.S. Army, Secret Service and NASA.

"America is stronger when two companies with deep manufacturing roots come together to help expand speed, scale and resilience in the defense industrial base. That is why Lockheed Martin and GM are announcing this collaboration," Brown said on the call.

The partnership comes as President Donald Trump has been pushing for more American manufacturing to bring more production and reshoring into the country. The U.S. has also seen its defense stockpiles fall because of the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

The White House has held discussions with Ford and GM about better supporting the country's defense industry.

— CNBC's Michael Wayland contributed to this report.