The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has delivered a lightweight power system to the US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit (EODTEU) 2.

The power management kit (PMK) system, developed by TechSolutions, is designed to reduce 50lb of battery devices used by EODTEU to charge their specialised equipment.

The lightweight and portable system consists of common military rechargeable batteries, a solar-powered blanket, a 1lb soldier power manager (SPM) unit and cables to link the SPM with EOD equipment.

Protonex’s vice-president and ONR’s PMK project principal investigator Phil Robinson said the PMK with all of its cables and the SPM in a soft roll case weighs only 9lb, replacing 50lb of specialised chargers and related equipment.

“The PMK gives the warfighter a very significant weight reduction in batteries, chargers and adapters, while also increasing real-time awareness of power usage and availability,” he added.

Five PMK units have been supplied to the navy’s EOD team for conducting trials.

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