_____________________________________________________________________________________ American
Rheinmetall
We’ re joined by Matthew Warnick, CEO, and Jason Atkinson, COO and former CEO of Loc, to learn more about the business and the recent acquisition.“ I was the first employee at American Rheinmetall, which was created to leverage opportunities for ground combat vehicles and tactical wheel vehicles, with most of our efforts focused on the development of the Lynx XM30 Combat Vehicle,” Matthew begins.“ Over time, we built a core team and started investing in both products and technologies, later winning our first contract for the US Army’ s XM30 program. We’ ve seen tremendous growth, going from 20-to-30 employees to around 300, and then with the recent acquisition of Loc to around 1400.”
Elaborating on Loc’ s history, Jason adds:“ Loc was established in Plymouth, Michigan, in 1971, but really penetrated the defense market throughout the 1990s. We’ ve been manufacturing products for pretty much every ground combat vehicle since then and we‘ cut our teeth’ in suspension and driveline.
Loc had been growing organically for several years but also acquired a large fabrication shop in 2017 and later acquired another company in 2019 to bolster our long-range capabilities with high precision machining and long-range missile systems.
“ Fast forward to 2024 when we were working with American Rheinmetall on its Lynx XM30 concept design platform, and we sparked conversations that ultimately led to American Rheinmetall acquiring Loc to add manufacturing capabilities – and more – to its already proven platforms. Today, we organize the integrated business across three main segments: prime work encompasses our direct work for the US Government, Tier 1 refers to the sub-assemblies and structures primarily from the legacy Loc business, and commercial focuses on products for the agricultural and industrial markets.
“ One thing that stood out to me throughout the acquisition process was the company’ s approach and willingness to invest in research
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