News

Arotech Zinc-Air Battery Powers MAV Flight

June 18, 2003 by Jeff Shepard

Arotech Corp. (New York) announced 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 the batteries under a contract from an Israeli security agency. 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 zinc-air cells are high-power, lightweight versions of the company's most advanced zinc-air cells.

"This is the first time zinc-air technology has been used to power an aerial vehicle," said Robert Ehrlich, Arotech chairman and CEO. "The military places great importance on unmanned aerial vehicles, and we are in position to greatly enhance their mission duration."