Inventus Power, a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced battery systems for military, medical, commercial, and industrial markets today announced it has been awarded a $1.25 billion contract to supply Conformal Wearable Batteries to the U.S. Army over a nine-year period.
The United States Department of Defense released this contract information on its website on May 12, 2021.
Inventus Power, the inventor and current producer of warfighter wearable power, has been working closely with the U.S. Army for over a decade. In 2010, Inventus Power invented the Conformal Wearable Battery (CWB) for the U.S. Army, and since then, has delivered over 100,000 CWBs for its Nett Warrior Program and Small Unit Power programs as the sole source supplier.
Inventus Power’s CWB 150 (14.8V; 152Wh) is a safe, flexible, and wearable power source designed to increase the mission effectiveness of the warfighter. It is the only fielded and proven battery that meets 100% of the U.S. Army’s requirements and exceeds the MIL-PRF-32383/4A specification in several areas critical to warfighter safety and mission accomplishment. Its anti-ballistic and antipropagation technologies make it one of the most advanced battery systems in the industry.
“We take pride in our long-standing partnership with the U.S. Army and our commitment to supply them with the most advanced centrally-powered source available – CWBs,” stated Mark Fiedler, Program Executive and Vice President of Government Programs and Support (GPS) at Inventus Power. “We are proud of this opportunity to continue to support our U.S. Military during its modernization effort. Our CWB is a proven product that meets the power, performance, and safety needs of today’s soldiers while reducing their overall weight burden.”
Technological advances have equipped today’s soldiers with more portable electrical systems than ever before. As their power needs continue to grow, future advancements in wearable power will need to offer higher energy density without increasing a soldier’s weight load or risk in battle.
“Inventus Power practices a process of continuous improvement for all our products and our CWB continues to evolve to meet the central power source requirements for warfighters,” stated Ilyas Ayub, Executive Vice President of Global Product Development at Inventus Power. “With our deep-rooted history of designing safe, innovative, and reliable power solutions for mission-critical applications, we are confident in our ability to design and develop more advanced, next-generation CWBs to meet the increasing energy needs of the modern soldier.”
I have a couple of questions for anyone who has had the opportunity to use/test these. Does it generate any appreciable heat/thermal signature? What effect – if any – does moisture (perspiration to immersion) have on it? Maybe I missed it, but I did not find the answers on their site.
TLB
They suck balls.
A) They get hot, so yes on thermal signature, but hey, I’m supposed to wear it underneath a side plate so it’ll be hidden. Except F*** that. Hell, F*** side plates 95% of the time anyways.
B) They fail more than regular 152 batteries – probably because they have a flimsier connection interface
C) theoretically fine with moisture but it is a plug in port connection, not a fixed blade type connection
D) “wires wires, everywhere there’s wires, blocking up my [combat effectiveness]”
Will these explode into an inferno if punctured like a lithium battery will?
Not at all- ballistic protection was part of the requirements. In this video they shoot a battery three times and it continues to deliver power for 10 minutes while showing no flame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mhtHVm2vLE
Oh but hold on… the VP in her message to the Naval Engineering class this year said that soon, a Marine (“she”) won’t need to carry batteries…. all that will be needed is a simple, lightweight solar panel…. what an empty-headed ignoramus…