ARTICLE

May 2004

Battery Hitches Hamper Performance Of Army Smart Munitions Programs

by Michael Peck

The production of smart munitions may be jeopardized by instability in the battery manufacturing sector, Army officials fear. Although batteries often are not viewed as critical components, some munitions programs have been delayed because of battery problems, experts said. Developers of smart munitions generally turn most of their attention to the warhead, the guidance system or the propellant, but not to the batteries.

The Commerce Department recently completed an industry study focused on the niche market for tiny, but complicated batteries that power munitions, such as artillery rounds. Details of the report are unavailable, partly because it contains proprietary data on manufacturers.

“All I can say is that there is some concern,” said Allan Goldberg, a battery program official at the Army Research Laboratory. “You have a limited industrial base and a limited number of purchases,” he told National Defense Magazine. During the Vietnam War, he said, the United States was producing a million artillery batteries a month. Now, 200,000 batteries are considered a “big buy.”

For each of the two main types of munition batteries—liquid electrolyte reserve and thermal batteries—there are only two or three manufacturers. According to Goldberg, the only makers of liquid electrolyte batteries are Alliant Techsystems in Horsham, Pa., EaglePicher Technologies in Joplin, Mo., and KDI Precision Products in Cincinnati, Ohio. For thermal batteries, the two manufacturers are EaglePicher and Enser Corp. in Pinellas Park, Fla.

In a presentation to the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement conference in Arlington, Va., Goldberg cited two weapons that were either delayed or could have been delayed because of difficulties in manufacturing the batteries. One was the M-234/235 self-destruct fuze for the dual purpose improved conventional munitions grenades, and the other is the battery for the Excalibur artillery round.

At the core of the debate is the state of the industrial base. Turning to commercial battery giants isn’t an option, said Goldberg. “The total number of custom batteries for all of the Defense Department and Energy Department munitions applications, are a drop in a very large bucket compared to commercial battery production, where one company alone makes 4.2 billion batteries a year.”

One problem is the difficulty of manufacturing such small batteries. Production line nozzles can clog when forced to rapidly insert minute amounts of electrolyte into liquid reserve batteries. These components must have a quick rise time or the ability to generate power speedily. “Some rounds may not power up when fired. They may power up when the sub-munitions are dispersed,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg and others are concerned that the current sales and profit margins will discourage research into munitions batteries—at a time when munitions are growing smaller and smarter, thus demanding more power.

The Commerce Department study came about at the Army’s request. It examined a variety of solutions. “One permissible recommendation is for the government to step in and take over these companies,” said Goldberg.

“The issue is, are we going to have the small batteries and small power systems these future systems will need? The direction we’re going in our weapons systems and our requirements would make us believe that the expectations for power sources are going to be more difficult to meet.”

Some manufacturers aren’t quite as pessimistic. Bill Harsch, director of market and business development for EaglePicher, said there are “at least two manufacturers in each of the [battery] chemistries that are very stable companies.”

However, he readily acknowledges that this is a niche market. “It’s only a $20 million business for us,” he said. In contrast, batteries for conventional Army missiles alone generate $150 million a year for EaglePicher. The company makes several types of batteries for defense and space applications.

“I don’t know that there is any incentive to enter the business,” Harsch said. “These [munitions] batteries are a part of our business, but not a large part of our business. If we were a small startup company, I’d be concerned about staying in the business. But we’ve been in this since 1952.”

Because profit margins are small, Harsch sees little enticement for research and development. “I think the people involved are very dedicated… But it’s a constant battle to make money, because the technology is very, very difficult. And they want very low costs.

There has to be to a lot of development in order to bring these technologies up to the new specifications.”

He cites problems with the battery for the Army’s Excalibur smart artillery projectile. “There has been an issue with a rise in voltage rise time. They’re really pushing the envelope of technology. … We need to tweak the design.”

Concerned about the supply of batteries, one fuze manufacturer produces its own lithium reserve batteries. KDI manufactures the M234 fuze for the dual-purpose improved conventional munitions. Batteries aren’t its primary business, but the company found it more convenient to make its own power source for the M234.

“We make batteries now, because I could not find a good supplier that met my needs,” said Eric Guerrazzi, president of KDI, which is part of L3 Communications. “I got into the business totally in self defense, because I can’t deliver fuzes without batteries.”

“Everyone who had any expertise in batteries left the defense market and went to cell phones and computers,” said Guerrazzi. “Those that are left are scraping by with no incentive to improve their products.”

While Harsch doesn’t believe the industry is in bad shape, he does see areas where government intervention could help. “There are tax incentive programs they could look at, or of course just out-and-out better pricing.”

Munitions batteries come with unique requirements not found in any other industry. They must be capable of lying dormant on a shelf for 20 years, and then discharge their power in a fraction of a second. They must function in temperatures ranging from minus 45 degrees F to a steamy 145 degrees F, and withstand being fired out of a cannon that subjects them to as many as 100,000 Gs [the force of gravity].

Batteries that power munitions often are as small as pencil erasers. The M234/235 self-destruct fuze, used in the dual-purpose improved conventional munitions grenades, has the smallest battery in any current U.S. system. It’s only 0.13 cubic centimeters, and consumes 20 to 25 microliters of electrolyte. Most munitions batteries are larger, with the one powering Multi-Option Fuze for Artillery using 2.5 milliliters in a battery that is 19 cubic centimeters.

Doug Troast, who leads guidance system development for the Excalibur, blamed changing requirements rather than battery problems for delays in the program. He said Excalibur’s designers paid careful attention to batteries from the start. “If the battery doesn’t work, then nothing else does.”

But Goldberg isn’t confident that munitions designers are getting the message. “They have a way of developing a system and it’s pretty well set, and it would take a radical change of thinking to treat batteries differently.

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