Team LionStrike – the collaboration between GM Defence, BAE Systems and NP Aerospace targeting the British Army’s Land Mobility Programme (LMP) – has put additional horsepower behind its proposed solution.

At a press facility at Royal Hospital Chelsea in London on 12 May 2026 the team announced that its proposal for the Light Mobility Vehicle (LMV) requirement within LMP will now include the Chevrolet Silverado HD, one of General Motors’ highest-performing vehicles, as part of its largely commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based solution as stipulated by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Powered by a 6.6-litre Duramax turbodiesel V8 that produces 1,322 Nm of torque, the Silverado HD comes in a 2500HD version that offers up to 9,997 kg of towing capacity and can carry 1,860 kg of payload or a 3500HD variant that offers almost 10 tonnes of towing capacity and can carry more than two tonnes of payload.

The towing capacity is significant because, with the LMV requirement intended to replace the British Army’s fleets of Land Rover and Pinzgauer vehicles, the latter are used to tow the army’s 105 mm Light Guns.

The Silverado HD also offers ample internal space to allow operations on the move, even when mission systems such as radios have been installed, as well as a logistics load space of up to 2.1×1.9 m, which enables NATO pallet transportation.

The Team LionStrike LMV line-up had originally comprised troop carrier and utility variants of the GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), a tactical vehicle derived from the Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck, along with a General Support Utility Platform solution based on the Chevrolet S10 Work Truck, with a 207 hp diesel and a 1,116 kg payload, and the Silverado 1500 ZR2, which has a 305 hp diesel and a 705 kg payload.

The new line-up now comprises the two ISV variants, the Silverado HD and the Silverado LD pickup, which is powered by a 3.0-litre Duramax turbodiesel that delivers 671 Nm of torque, offers up to 6,804 kg of towing capacity and can carry a one-tonne payload.

The British Army has yet to formalise the evaluation criteria for its LMV requirement, with the procurement still in a market engagement phase with industry. However, speaking in London on 12 May, Gilbert Nelson, vice president for international business development for GM Defense UK, explained the rationale behind the introduction of the Silverado HD into the Team LionStrike line-up.

“As we’ve learned more about the programme, requirements start to become more clear, and there are certain roles for these vehicles that require a higher payload capacity,” Nelson told Warsight. “When there’s a higher payload capacity needed, the heavy-duty truck is superior. So you take advantage of the common family of Silverado trucks, but you get the stronger engine, the stiffer suspension, all the things that give this a higher payload capacity to be able to haul more cargo, more people, more whatever it is that you need to haul.”

Team LionStrike representatives assert that a key strength of their bid is the fact that GM Defense, as the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and provider of the vehicles, is the prime contractor, which is the not case with some of the other teams sourcing COTS vehicles for their bids. GM Defense would thus be intimately involved with producing the final LMV platforms.

A key advantage brought by NP Aerospace, meanwhile, is its current position as prime contractor for the UK MoD’s Protected Mobility Engineering and Technical Support (PMETS) and Conventional Vehicle Systems Spares and Post Design Services (CVSSP) contracts, which together cover around 17,000 vehicles. The company is the engineering and design authority for UK MoD protected mobility and light utility vehicles and delivers full lifecycle support for more than 50% of the UK’s military ground vehicle fleet.

BAE Systems rounds out Team LionStrike by providing the capacity to surge production, along with expertise on programme leadership as well as sensor, weapon and mission systems integration, including expertise on conversion of vehicles to right-hand-drive configurations if the British Army determines this is required.

Although the base vehicles under Team LionStrike would be provided by GM Defense from its manufacturing sites across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the presence of NP Aerospace and BAE Systems in the team ensure the kind of UK workshare required by the programme.

As an MoD spokesperson told Warsight on 13 May, “We are committed to ensuring British industry plays a central role in delivering the next generation of light mobility vehicles expected to be in the hands of soldiers by 2030. The LMV programme offers opportunities for British-based businesses through vehicle support and maintenance, helping make defence an engine for growth, which is a key part of the Strategic Defence Review.”

A rich heritage

Drawing on a heritage of service going back to the Second World War, the Team LionStrike presentation in London on 12 May 2026 noted that, if the Silverados and ISVs are duly selected for the UK MoD’s LMV requirement, they will not be the first GM trucks to support British troops.

To emphasise this point, parked up at Royal Hospital Chelsea alongside the Silverados and ISVs was a reproduction Chevrolet 1533X2 truck, depicting the kind of vehicle famously used by the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) in the Second World War.

Founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Bagnold, whose grandson Bagnold, himself a former British Army officer, gave a presentation at the 12 May press facility, the LRDG primarily used Chevrolet 1533X2 trucks sourced in Egypt to conduct deep penetration and covert reconnaissance patrols in North Africa, causing mayhem from behind the Axis lines.

General Motors was also the largest supplier to the US armed forces during the Second World War, with Chevrolet and GMC trucks forming the backbone of critical operations like the Red Ball Express: the massive logistics operation that supported Allied forces after D-Day as they pushed the German Army back through Europe.