Zinc-Air Powered UAV Battery Outperforms Lithium Ion Polymer

US Marine Corps (USMC) Lance Corporal (LCPL) David Fierro, 2nd Military Police (MP) Battalion (BN), Bravo Company (B CO), 5th Platoon (PLT), launches the Dragon Eye Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) along the MSR (main supply road) Lyman Road. The Dragon Eye is a small plane guided by computers and provides real time video of the terrain below it. The Marines use the Dragon Eye during their patrol to find any IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device) or suspicious people traveling on the roads.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 17, 2003–Arotech Corporation (NasdaqNM: ARTX) announced today that a zinc-air battery developed by its subsidiary, Electric Fuel Battery Corp., powered a Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) in test flights in Israel. The Electric Fuel zinc-air powered flight was longer than that achieved with the same MAV using a High Performance Lithium Ion Polymer battery.

Electric Fuel developed these batteries under a contract from an Israeli security agency, as reported by the Company last year. Under the terms of the contract, Electric Fuel is developing prototype zinc-air cells that can maintain high power densities for extended periods of time.

The Company recently announced that a prototype zinc-air battery developed for a US Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) passed a milestone in testing a Marine Dragon Eye unmanned drone.

Electric Fuel’s cutting-edge zinc-air cells for UAVs and MAVs are high-power, lightweight versions of its most advanced zinc-air cells. The Company believes Electric Fuel’s zinc air batteries have the potential to greatly extend the mission duration of these reconnaissance aircraft (Business Wire, 2003).

References

Business Wire. (2003, June17). Arotech Battery Outperforms Lithium Ion Polymer in First Ever Zinc-Air Powered MAV Flight; Electric Fuel Zinc-Air Battery Powers Micro Aerial Vehicle -MAV- in Test Flights. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20030617005515/en/Arotech-Battery-Outperforms-Lithium-Ion-Polymer-Zinc-Air