Army C5ISR Center maintains pulse on U.S. battery industry to improve warfighting capabilities

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (June 25, 2025) — As the military continues to equip Soldiers with the world’s most advanced electronics, U.S. Army researchers play a critical role in independently verifying the performance and safety of the next-generation batteries needed by these systems.

Ensuring the batteries, sourced from a global network of suppliers, can meet the performance and reliability required for these advanced electronics is a vital function of the Army’s Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center.

Soldiers using C5ISR hardware, including night-vision goggles, radios, augmented reality headsets and range finders need power solutions that work safely in extreme conditions over long mission durations to maintain their lethality, according to Dr. Ashley Ruth, a senior electrochemist at the Center. Army C5ISR scientists and engineers maintain this technological edge by regularly assessing America’s commercial next-generation battery and cell technology.

C5ISR Center’s rigorous testing and evaluation are crucial for DoD applications and benefit numerous government agencies as the United States seeks to leverage advanced battery chemistries for enhanced performance. This work is also vital for reducing reliance on potentially vulnerable foreign supply chains, said Marnie Bailey, Senior Scientific Technical Manager for Power and Energy at C5ISR Center.

“The 2025 presidential executive order on processed critical minerals and derivative products specifically addresses the need to reduce reliance on foreign nations for battery development and production,” Bailey said. “C5ISR Center has the labs, technical expertise and industry relationships to lead the Army. We’re able to understand the status of the industrial base and share this data with our partners across the joint services and government agencies.”

Over the past six years the C5ISR Center has assessed more than 60 different rechargeable and non-rechargeable battery cell and pack technology sets from 46 companies and universities. The batteries range from near-commercial cells and packs to those at lower technology levels requiring additional research. These evaluations of prototype batteries occur in parallel to regular production lot battery testing the Center performs for DoD program offices.

“Being able to test these commercial and emerging battery chemistries across a wide range of environmental and load conditions in C5ISR Center labs gives us a significant advantage,” Ruth said. “We are able to use this performance information to help our DoD and government agency partners buy the best commercial technology to meet their operational use cases. Our scientists and engineers also identify where commercial tech is not meeting the military’s needs, which informs Army investment priorities.”

Even seemingly identical commercial batteries can have significant variations in performance and safety characteristics, Ruth said. These inconsistencies can directly impact mission success, affecting equipment performance such as reduced runtimes in radios or failures of range finder lasers or imaging systems in cold weather.

Because of the cross-cutting nature of battery technology, C5ISR Center participates in data-sharing discussions among groups, such as Interagency Advanced Power Group and Federal Consortium of Advanced Batteries, to establish energy dominance and ensure supply resilience. These partnerships and the C5ISR Center’s decades-long contributions to batteries are critical to future development, said C5ISR Center Director Beth Ferry.

“The C5ISR Center has been working in this space and providing institutional knowledge in battery chemistry development since before the invention of the lithium-ion battery,” Ferry said. “The Center’s trusted expertise will continue to shape the Army’s battery efforts for years to come.”

For more information on Army batteries and the battery industry, contact the C5ISR Center through https://battery.army.mil.

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The U.S. Army Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center is the Army’s applied research and advanced technology development center for C5ISR capabilities. As the Army’s primary integrator of C5ISR technologies and systems, DEVCOM C5ISR Center supports our networked Warfighters by identifying, developing, maturing, and rapidly integrating innovative technologies to drive continuous transformation.

DEVCOM C5ISR Center is an asset of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. DEVCOM is Army Futures Command’s leader and integrator within a global ecosystem of scientific exploration and technological innovation. DEVCOM expertise spans eight major competency areas to provide integrated research, development, analysis and engineering support to the Army and DOD. From rockets to robots, drones to dozers, and aviation to artillery – DEVCOM innovation is at the core of the combat capabilities American Warfighters need to win on the battlefield of the future. For more information, visit c5isrcenter.devcom.army.mil.