GK has served the military market for over 25 years with its success still based on the founding principle to service the military in ways that traditional suspension suppliers had not. GK suspension products have always been designed in-house and the company remains focused exclusively on the unique needs of military vehicle markets, leaving others to offer what are little more than overgrown automotive suspension components.
Our first contracts were for replacement military shock absorbers for tracked combat vehicles, beginning with the M60A1 and M109A5, and through a swiftly growing product line, extending to the Bradley, the M113 and other tracked vehicles.
Military suspension products for wheeled vehicles came next. Soon after, GK was supplying all of the US Army’s telescopic shock absorbers for tracked vehicles, and a large portion of those for wheeled vehicles. At the OEM level, GK has been the predominant supplier of shock absorbers to BAE since 1983 (York), 1992 (Sealy) and 1985 (San Jose), Textron has been a customer since 1987.
With the introduction of Hydropneumatic Suspensions in the mid-90’s, GK became a supplier to GDLS and earned “Medallion of Success” honors (one of only three companies to do so) for its work on the Stryker program.
The early 2000’s saw the development of semi-active suspensions, providing for computer control of both springing and damping, allowing greater mission flexibility and contributing in a significant way to the mobility and survivability of modern military vehicles.
Future vehicles will have suspensions with ever-increasing levels of sophistication. GK’s engineering expertise continues advancing and will keep the company at the forefront of both suspension technology and customer service.
