First, take your road-based 4WD Chev Colorado. Then chop off all the bodywork (sorry, design team). Add a gnarly roll cage and basic engine cover (that’s ‘hood’ to our American friends). Buy up a poultice of mil-spec olive-green paint.

Then press ‘go’ on the production line.

The US Army has signed off on full-rate production for the GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV), a specialised infantry carrier based on the last-generation Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 platform.

GM Defense, the defence contracting arm of General Motors, was initially awarded a USD $214.3 million contract to produce 2065 ISV units back in 2020. In the time since, GM has managed to deliver more than 300 examples of the Infantry Squad Vehicle to 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, according to GM Defense. The ISV is a light all-terrain troop carrier specifically designed to accommodate nine-member squads within larger Infantry Brigade Combat Teams. The ISV is light enough to be transported by a variety of helicopters including the UH-60 Blackhawk and CH-47 Chinook.

The GM Defense ISV shares parts with GM’s roadgoing trucks: 90 percent of the ISV’s components are “off the shelf”. These include components like the chassis, as well as the off-roader’s suspension system backed by Multimatic DSSV dampers. The powertrain of the military vehicle is also pulled from the civilian ZR2: a 2.8-litre Duramax turbodiesel. GM Defense hasn’t just built a bodiless ZR2 however: the ISV has a 46.1-degree approach angle and a departure angle of 42 degrees.

The battlefield-ready truck might not be a perfect solution to all of the army’s troop-carrying needs, but it’s clearly impressed enough officials to get the full nod from the American Department of Defense.