The U.S. Army‘s Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center collaborates with the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and industry partners to explore hybrid power systems for a proposed Future Vertical Lift program.
The multiservice collaboration builds upon previous work on a lithium-ion battery technology that was designed to help power F-22 aircraft, the first Mars Rover and U.S. missile defense systems, the Army said Thursday.
Lithium-ion technology made through the partnership was also applied to the Army Aviation Mission Command’s Tube-Launched Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided, Improved Target Acquisition System.
“When my AMCOM counterpart called, our industry partner was already looking to build large-scale lithium-ion cells to potentially use in electric vehicles, aircraft and space satellites,” said Ed Plichta, chief scientist for power and energy at CERDEC.
“They had developed a large format 40 amp-per-hour cell for this purpose, and it seemed to be the right size for the power and energy needed to drive the ITAS,” Plichta added.
CERDEC and its partners aim to develop hybrid energy storage systems for potential use in all-electric systems and platforms.
