GM Defense Suburbans May Play Key Role in Monitoring Middle East Ceasefire

GM Defense is providing next generation Suburban Shield armored vehicles to the Qatar Armed Forces at a critical time in history. When it made the announcement GM Defense said it was supplying the vehicles to Qatar’s Armed Forces and Special Forces Command for protected diplomatic security and VIP transport. Now, it has been revealed that Qatar and Egypt will be monitoring the ceasefire in Gaza in the Middle East, so the vehicles will be essential in the war-torn region.

According to the Associated Press,

“The long-awaited ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel will go into effect in less than 24 hours, Qatar's foreign ministry said on Saturday. Qatar's foreign minister, Majid al-Ansari, posted on X that the ceasefire will start at 1:30 a.m. EST Sunday, 8:30 a.m. local time in Gaza.”

“GM Defense’s next-generation Suburban Shield offers the Qatar Armed Forces unrivaled performance thanks to GM’s advanced technologies,” said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. “We engineered the Suburban Shield from the ground up as a protected vehicle using GM’s world-class process and tools to deliver the reliability and quality expected from a GM vehicle. We’re confident the vehicle will help the Qatar Armed Forces effectively carry out their important diplomatic security missions and are excited to see Suburban Shield introduce a new level of sophistication to protected vehicles in the region.”

The Suburban Shield Heavy Duty Armored Vehicle

The Suburban Shield looks similar to a regular Chevrolet Suburban but it is built on a new and unique body-on-frame chassis and suspension system, designed to support increased vehicle weight and performance requirements. The Suburban Shield is more like a Chevrolet Heavy Duty truck with the ZR2 off-roading upgrades than the average large SUV.

GM Defense incorporates protective armor into the original design and manufacturing process, rather than the previous after-market, tear-down and rebuild practices. New design features help ensure the vehicle is safe and reliable, while meeting GM’s commercial standards. Suburban Shield includes independent armoring certification with options and configurations to suit different customer requirements.

"Our OEM-provided solution benefits from GM’s world-class technologies, engineering and validation capabilities, and global quality management systems that traditional defense contractors don’t offer,” said Bradley Watters, vice president of international business development for GM Defense. “With Suburban Shield, GM Defense delivers a one-of-a-kind solution that outperforms previous generation vehicles. We’re proud to offer this capability to the Qatar Armed Forces that will help replace their legacy platforms.”

GM Helps GM Defense Provide Cost Efficiencies

Because GM Defense is a subsidiary of General Motors, it has access to the company’s digital engineering and GM’s quality management system to save money throughout the development phase while ensuring the highest levels of quality and performance. In other words, it doesn’t have to recreate a heavy-duty platform from the ground up. It can take GM’s proven truck bodies and adapt them for the armored vehicles, saving millions of dollars by not having to do testing on unproven platforms.

The GM Defense vehicles also use a high percentage of commercial parts, including the body, exterior, propulsion, interior, and brakes. That makes the vehicles easier to maintain and repair because GM has a huge global network for parts and services.

GM Defense Providing Vehicles World-Wide

As I have reported previously, GM Defense has other types of vehicles that it is supplying to our Armed Forces as well as other countries. It builds troop carriers based on truck platforms, combined with racing technology to make the vehicles lighter and more agile in war zones.

GM Defense also provides customized Suburban Shields to the U.S. Department of State’s (DoS) Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) in support of its Heavy-Duty armored Sport Utility Vehicle program. The company recently completed some of the first production vehicles for the law enforcement and security arm of the DoS.

GM Defense Photo

Mary Conway is a professional automotive journalist and has decades of experience specializing in automotive news analysis. She covered the Detroit Three for more than twenty years for the ABC affiliate, in Detroit. Her affection for the Motor City comes naturally. Her father ran a gas station while Mary was growing up, in Wisconsin.

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