We recently had an opportunity to speak with several representative from Program Executive Officer Soldier’s Program Manager for Soldier Sensors and Lasers about their push to remind Soldiers to use Lithium batteries with their equipment. Specifically, they are advocating the use of the L91 AA battery, which is available through the standard stock system under NSN 6135-01-333-6101 (12 per package). It is common to a wide variety of Soldier equipment including the Enhanced Night Vision Device and Thermal Weapon Sight.
There are several advantages to using the L91 AAs. Mr. Joe Pearson, PM SSL Logistics Management Division Director articulated several reasons Lithium batteries are preferred over the cheaper Alkaline models. First off, the Technical Manual calls for their use, and here’s why. Bottom line up front; L91 batteries offer improved lethality and maneuverability through decreased operational load and longer performance. Since they last three to five times longer, there is less equipment down time due to battery swaps. This increased life also results in reduced supply costs. While alkaline batteries are less expensive when you compare them one-to-one to the Lithium versions, the Lithium battery will last three times as long as the Alkaline. That’s one third the cost. Additionally, Lithium batteries are 37% lighter than Alkaline batteries resulting in less cost to the total supply chain for transportation. That means fewer aircraft in the air and fewer vehicles on mined roads. Finally, you can’t go wrong with the L91 batteries. They have a shelf life of up to 15 years.
If those reasons weren’t enough, SSG José R. Salcedo III, S3, Tasking NCO, 2-504 PIR, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division related an incident that is germane to the subject. During a 2012 vehicle patrol in Afghanistan’s Ghazni Province when one of his convoy’s vehicles struck an IED. He assumed a security posture scanning for the enemy with his Thermal Weapon Sight. Specifically, he was looking for the trigger man who initiated the IED explosion. He had just checked the battery indicator about 10 minutes before which indicated he had about half of his power left. But once he placed it into operations, the screen went blank. In the moments it took him to swap batteries, SSG Salcedo fears his target slipped away. Turns out, his TWS was powered that day by an Alkaline battery. The battery indicator on the TWS is calibrated for use with Lithium batteries. Now, he only uses L91 Lithium batteries.
The image above gives you a good idea of the advantages of lithium over alkaline batteries. As you can see, their operational life is affected by temperature. According to MSG Reiko Carter, PM SSL NCOIC/Fielding OPS NCO, specific performance data based on temperature is available in each piece of equipment’s Technical Manual and they go over the data during New Equipment Training. However, there’s a lot of turnover in units and the guy who attended NET may have moved on. I think it would be a great project to produce an app that aggregates all types of equipment and battery usage data into a predictive planning tool for logistics and small unit leaders.
Please pass this info on to your logistics team if they haven’t seen it. Use of Lithium batteries won’t only save money but also increase your effectiveness and decrease your load in the field.
