Obsolete weapons

Howard Berkowitz wrote:
In article ,
(Harry Andreas) wrote:


I did a program the year before last that needed to use LiMnO2 and
LiSO2 batteries. Found out that the US Army is the world's biggest
user of batteries.



In other words, assault is impossible without battery.

"The scramble to find batteries and get them to troops fighting in
Operation Iraqi Freedom is leading to a policy review of
non-rechargeable batteries, as well as an examination of alternative
power sources, such as fuel cells and solar panels.

Inadequate inventories of military batteries almost led U.S. forces to
cease operations or alter tactics during Operation Iraqi Freedom. But
several U.S. manufacturers helped avert a potential crisis by slowly
replenishing stocks of the non-rechargeable BA 5990 battery, said a Navy
official.

Navy Capt. Clark Driscoll, the Defense Contract Management Agency
liaison to the Joint Staff, said lack of funding had left the inventory
of BA 5590s in “bad shape for a long time.”

The BA 5590 is the military’s most widely used portable power source,
operating a variety of communications devices.

“We literally [came] within days of running out of these batteries—where
major combat operations would either have ceased or changed in their
character because of the lack of battery support,” Driscoll said in
remarks to the Tri-Service Power Expo, in Norfolk, Va."

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.o...le.cfm?id=1190