Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, has hosted discussions regarding the Pentagon’s mission to advance the domestic battery supply chain with executives from lithium-ion battery and critical mineral manufacturing companies.
The in-person roundtable involved dialogues addressing the challenges faced by the U.S. military as a battery customer, including lack of standardization across platforms, the Pentagon said Friday.
It also served as a platform for executives from Bren-Tronics, EaglePicher, Enersys, Forge Nano, General Motors Defense, and Our Next Energy to comment on possible solutions to the problems and converse about ways to build a more resilient industrial base for batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in a wide range of applications, including powering aircraft, munitions, unmanned vehicles and other defense systems.
Hicks said that advancing the domestic supply chain for batteries will help increase lethality and maintain the U.S. military advantage.
The roundtable also saw participation from Radha Plumb, deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment; Halimah Najieb-Locke, deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base resilience; and Joe Bryan, DOD chief sustainability officer and senior climate adviser.
