$10 Million to Factory for Quicker Thermal Batteries

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB awarded a $10 million cost plus fixed fee contract to Enser Corp. of Pinellas Park (FA8650-04-C-5705), FL to create over the next six years a manufactory to produce cobalt disulfide base thermal batteries. Materials like cobalt disulfide have been found to be more attractive in producing thermal batteries – typically installed in munitions, cockpit ejector seats and other such applications – because they have lower melting points. Those lower melting points allow for the material to become liquid electrolyte more rapidly, activating the battery some tens of milliseconds quicker – a fraction of a second that can come in rather handy for short-hop missile launches and, perhaps especially, skidaddling pilots.