GM Defense, the Washington, D.C.-based subsidiary of General Motors Co. in Detroit, and the Tawazun Council of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have signed a collaborative memorandum of understanding (MOU) today as the first step toward a formal partnership to develop future products in the areas of advanced mobility and power solutions.
Tawazun Council is the UAE government entity that supports defense and security investments and promotes innovation and R&D in the defense industries.
The MOU was signed at the Tawazun Council Chalet at IDEX 2023 defense exposition in Abu Dhabi by Shareef Hashim Al Hashmi, CEO of Tawazun Council and Steve duMont, president of GM Defense.
It is the first partnership for GM Defense in the Middle East and helps the business expand its reach following the 2022 announcement of GM Defense International.
With the agreement in place, GM Defense will facilitate business with the shared objective of delivering efficient and advanced solutions to military, security, and government customers from the UAE and across the region.
“Our collaboration with Tawazun Council is an important step in expanding our reach to defense and government customers in the Middle East,” duMont says. “We are committed to building long-term, lasting relationships in the region and to delivering solutions featuring some of the most advanced, commercially proven technologies that offer reliability and flexibility. With this MOU in place, we can more effectively help our global customers transition to a more electric, autonomous and connected future.”
Priority opportunities covered by the MOU include cooperative research and development, regional production and assembly, and post-production support and global logistics focused on the key technology areas of integrated vehicles; power and propulsion — including fuel cell and power generation; and autonomy and connectivity.
“Today’s agreement marks an important, new relationship that further strengthens our nation’s domestic defense industrial base while offering new opportunities for an expanding technology development and supply partnership with GM Defense,” Al Hashmi says. “Tawazun is uniquely positioned within the region as a resource for operations, production, and development for world-class technology companies like GM Defense. Our strong global tie makes us an advantageous partner.”
