Battery firm wins military contract

C&D Technologies Inc. said today that it won a contract potentially worth $19 million to develop lithium-ion battery systems for the Army.

The Blue Bell company said the four-year contract calls for it to work on lightweight, high-power density batteries to supply backup and supplemental power for electronic systems supporting U.S. soldiers and their equipment in the field.

The technology also will be used by C&D's commercial customers for large-scale energy storage and renewable energy applications, and to power telecommunications systems.

The goal is to develop large power systems that can achieve economies of scale for military and commercial applications. The contract work will be performed at C&D's Milwaukee facility.

The first $6.6 million of the contract has been approved by Congress; the remainder must be authorized in future fiscal years, C&D said.    - Paul Schweizer