{"text":[[{"start":6.5,"text":"General Motors and Lockheed Martin have announced a new collaboration aimed at accelerating weapons manufacturing using the carmaker’s technologies."}],[{"start":15.25,"text":"The tie-up, which was requested by the US defence department, would help Lockheed Martin increase its production rate of critical munitions as it comes under pressure from the Pentagon to make more missiles and air-defence interceptors faster."}],[{"start":30,"text":"The Trump administration has demanded that defence companies such as Lockheed Martin triple or quadruple the production of critical munitions, which take about 24 to 36 months to produce, over the next three to seven years."}],[{"start":43.2,"text":"Lockheed Martin and GM’s announcement comes after the Pentagon held talks with the automaker and its Detroit rival Ford could contribute to the US’s weapons supply chains, including by producing components for a range of weapons systems."}],[{"start":57.25,"text":"“Today’s environment requires us to think differently about how we strengthen the industrial base,” Lockheed Martin chief operating officer Frank St John said on Tuesday. “Production capacity is a national security capability” and GM would bring “expertise in high-rate manufacturing, advanced engineering, digital tools and supply chain management”."}],[{"start":78.15,"text":"The partnership’s “focus is on munitions”, though not exclusively, St John said."}],[{"start":83.45,"text":"Along with scaling manufacturing, the Lockheed Martin-GM partnership would make supply chains more resilient, make parts more readily available and use advanced manufacturing and design approaches, according to St John."}],[{"start":97.35000000000001,"text":"Bruce Brown, GM’s vice-president of strategy, said his company was experienced in taking commercial technologies and applying them to urgent national security matters, including “off-the-shelf” products. "}],[{"start":110.10000000000001,"text":"He cited infantry squad vehicles derived from the Chevrolet Colorado, the GM technology in the Pegasus lunar terrain vehicle, and the automaker’s role in speeding up ventilator production during the Covid-19 pandemic."}],[{"start":123.9,"text":"The two companies did not announce specific projects, with St John saying it was “too early” for the groups to provide a figure for how much money each is investing in the partnership. While the groups have a memorandum of understanding, they have yet to finalise their agreement."}],[{"start":138.5,"text":"Lockheed Martin broadly expects to spend $9bn on 20 projects through 2030 to modernise its factories, expand production capacity and strengthen its supply base. Meanwhile, GM plans to spend $9bn on capital investments and $7bn on research and development, according to Brown."}],[{"start":160.55,"text":"“We’re going to be able to reshape what the manufacturing process looks like, not only to ramp but then also to maintain and have a resilient production capacity through the early half of 2030,” St John said."}],[{"start":174.05,"text":"Weapons stockpiles have dwindled due to the wars in Iran and Ukraine, particularly critical munitions, and the US has demanded that the country’s top defence manufacturers substantially increase production rates."}],[{"start":186.9,"text":"Lockheed Martin has entered into framework agreements with the US government to nearly triple the production of Patriot interceptors and quadruple Thaad interceptor production over the next seven years. There is also an agreement to quadruple Precision Strike Missile production."}],[{"start":203.3,"text":"All three munitions have been used by the US in its war on Iran."}],[{"start":214.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781679180_4396.mp3"}