Army Presses Industry for Battlefield Power Solutions Beyond Generators and Batteries

DETROIT — Army ground units lack sufficient exportable power on their vehicles to charge drones, communications gear, and command posts, and the service is pressing industry for rapid solutions as energy-intensive weapons enter the force.

“Every formation we have today is underpowered. Every single one of them, and more power requirements are coming,” Brig. Gen. Troy Denomy, program acquisition executive for maneuver, told attendees Thursday at the GVSETS conference keynote address.

“New counter-UAS [unmanned aerial systems] are going to show up. Next [Generation C2] is going to show up. There are other programs that we have to be mindful of coming in. So, how do we solve our power problem across our formations? And it’s not by buying more generators,” he continued.

Legacy platforms in the current fleet — such as the M1A2 Abrams, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and tactical wheeled vehicles — were not designed to generate the power required by the systems the Army increasingly relies on, including drone and counter-drone technologies and complex command posts.

“When I talk to brigade commanders, sitting brigade commanders, their number one problem is how do they have and how do they plan for recharge cycles to keep their UASs in the air, and they don’t have enough ability to do it organically,” Denomy said. “So they’re having to meter how many UASs they can actually put in the air, not because of what the mission dictates, but because of how much power they have available.”

While generators provide supplemental power, they are noisy and easily detected by adversaries, Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, explained during the keynote alongside Denomy.

“Generators are loud. They create a lot of visual signature. They create a lot of thermal signature, and we have to get past that,” Miller said.

Simply procuring more battery packs is also a non-starter, Denomy added, because they increase the soldier’s burden.

“Solutions that [are] presented to me [are] like, ‘Well, just give them another battery.’ You walk with five batteries in your pack for eight hours, and tell me how your feet feel,” Denomy said. “And you got to fight when you get there, right? So just adding batteries is not the solution.”

Although Denomy did not specify capabilities to boost power on legacy vehicles, he noted that emerging fuel-cell technologies are “really encouraging.”

He also highlighted that upcoming platforms — such as the XM30, set to replace the Bradley, and the M1E3 Abrams, slated to replace the M1A2 — are designed with greater exportable power. Heavy variants of the Infantry Squad Vehicle are likewise being engineered for higher power output, Denomy said, adding that similar upgrades for legacy fleets would be ideal.

The Army has also begun fielding “next-gen” power management solutions, Miller said, though he declined to provide specifics. Beyond alternatives to batteries and generators, the service is seeking substitutes for liquid fuel.

“We have got to change the fact that liquid fuel is still the most power dense, efficient way to move energy across the battlefield. We’ve got to change that,” Miller said. “Those are the types of things that we need your help [with], that I truly believe that only this crowd — because you’ve been doing it for literally since World War II — can help us solve those problems. So, please dig into those things.”

Source link