Israel Ministry of Defense awards rechargeable battery contract to Arotech

The Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) has placed a new order to Arotech’s power systems division for rechargeable batteries, with additional option for the same products on the same terms and value.

The order, worth $8.5m, includes 70,000 rechargeable batteries, which will be used to operate radios and other systems.

A subsidiary of Arotech located in Sderot, southern Israel will manufacture the batteries, which are expected to be delivered in the last quarter of this year.

IMOD directorate of procurement and production C4I procurement senior director Eliezer Hasson said: "Israel’s Ministry of Defense is proud of the fact that more and more of the advanced technology used by the IDF is produced by factories in the periphery of Israel.

"The purchase of batteries and charging systems tailored to the modern battlefield will bring a quantum leap in the command and control capabilities of the IDF’s combat units.

"This acquisition is in addition to orders of tens of thousands of batteries recently produced by Epsilor’s operating facility in Dimona."

The power systems division of Arotech provides primary and rechargeable batteries and chargers for defense and other military applications. The company also provides electronic parts and subsystems mainly for military, aerospace and industrial customers.

Arotech president and chief executive officer Steven Esses said: "This was an extremely competitive tender, and I am proud of our team, which won this tender against the substantial competition of five well-regarded companies, four Israeli and one American."

Recently, the company’s power systems division secured an additional grant from the Israel Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) for its Grid Storage Flow Battery Programme.

The new non-dilutive OCS funding, valued at around $720,000, seeks to cover Arotech’s 40% of the planned R&D budget for this year.