Power hungry: Army seeks light, efficient batteries to meet insatiable energy demand.

• Author: Axe, David
• Position: UPFRONT

In an Army that heavily depends on battery-operated devices to do its job, the complaints are well documented: Batteries are too heavy, too bulky and not very user-friendly.

All that could change, if Steve Slane has his way. Slane, chief of the battery branch at Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., is working with several contractors to develop new battlefield batteries--an effort employing 30 Army scientists and engineers and budgeted at around $15 million annually.

One recent innovation championed by CERDEC is a simple charge indicator built into a battery's casing so that soldiers don't have to guess how much juice is left. Such indicators are now standard on all new large batteries. A combination of lighter, longer-lasting batteries and innovations such as the charge indicator, can make a huge difference for soldiers in combat, Slane says.

In today's high-tech Army, where even the smallest patrol counts on a wide range of electronic systems--including radios, network terminals, night-vision goggles, radio jammers and shoulder-fired rockets--batteries are a critical resource. And demand is growing. "Five to 10 years ago, a soldier on average would consume three to four watts of [battery] power" on a typical mission, Slane says. "Today ... we're seeing power numbers of around 20 watts."

Watts are a generic unit of power, or work. Wattage is the product of voltage and current; the latter is measured in amperes.

To provide his 20 watts, a soldier might carry as many as eight 2.2-pound BA-5590 lithium sodium dioxide batteries on a mission, in addition to smaller alkaline batteries, for a combined weight of around 20 pounds--a load that outweighs even his rifle ammunition and takes up more space. As a result, battery weight and size have become important factors in mission planning. One way to reduce that load while slaking soldiers' thirst for power is to transition to more efficient chemistries.

"For the last 15 to 20 years, the majority of applications have been filled with lithium sulfur dioxide batteries" such as the 5590, says Mark Matthews, director of strategic market development for New York-based firm Ultralife, which alongside French company Saft, manufactures the majority of the million or so soldier batteries the Defense Logistics Agency consumes annually at a cost of around $100 million. CERDEC is responsible for administering the agency's orders for Army...