Wazzup - ULBI is up 16% today after jumping up on Friday.
Is this a delay reaction to the June 6 news?
Tuesday June 6, 9:57 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Ultralife Batteries, Inc.
Ultralife Batteries, Inc. Receives $2.8 Million Contract From U.S. Army To Establish Lithium Pouch Battery Manufacturing Capacity
NEWARK, N.Y., June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultralife Batteries, Inc. (Nasdaq: ULBI - news) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) to complete the
development of its primary (disposable) Lithium-manganese dioxide (Li-Mn02) Pouch batteries for the Army for manufacture in high volume on a flexible manufacturing line. The activities required under this agreement are to begin immediately and are expected to last 24 months. The Government will fund approximately $2.8 million for engineering efforts. The Army considers Ultralife's Pouch technology critical to meeting their future portable power needs in a safe, cost effective manner, and views it as
inherently safer than the other lithium technology currently in use. While Ultralife has already completed design efforts at the cell level, further engineering under this contract will complete the design at the battery level such that the cells and batteries can be produced in a high volume, cost effective fashion.
The principal goals of this program are: Developing the manufacturing technology required for high volume production of
Li-Mn02 Pouch batteries in a cost effective manner; Manufacturing of pre-production prototype batteries for testing; and providing technical input for the development and updating of military battery performance specifications. Research and development efforts, previously undertaken by Ultralife and CECOM, have demonstrated that the Li-Mn02 Pouch technology is capable of meeting all of the Army's battery performance requirements.
John Kavazanjian, Ultralife President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, ``This agreement represents a major success which supports our initiative to begin high-volume production of our groundbreaking lithium Pouch technology and will help to bolster Ultralife's position as the leader in advanced lithium battery technology for military applications. This program is particularly synergistic with our intent to commercialize this technology for potential large commercial market applications and helps to accelerate efforts to this end.''
Ultralife's lithium pouch cells consist of lithium anode and manganese dioxide cathode electrodes folded in a flat, or prismatic, configuration and sealed in thin, lightweight laminated aluminum foil pouches. The combination of Li-Mn02 chemistry in a volume and cost efficient pouch configuration results in a power source with almost twice the energy of cylindrical-cell lithium sulfur-dioxide batteries, which are currently in widespread use by the U.S. Army and NATO countries. These features represent significant performance and cost benefits for the Army. This pouch technology utilizes the same battery electrochemistry currently used in Ultralife's commercial batteries and is viewed by the Army as inherently safer than those batteries now in use.
The Pouch battery manufacturing technology developed during this program will use flexible manufacturing techniques to
support the production of various cell sizes and battery configurations. The battery configurations that will be produced to prove out the results of the program are the BA-7590, BA-7847, Land Warrior and CSEL Radio batteries. The BA-7590 and BA-7847 Li- Mn02 Pouch batteries are intended to replace two of the most widely used lithium-sulfur dioxide batteries currently in use by the Defense Department. Hundreds of thousands of these batteries representing tens of millions of dollars are procured every year by the Army and are used for both training and combat situations. The future potential production of these batteries by Ultralife in Pouch configurations therefore is a substantial opportunity for revenue growth.
The Land Warrior battery, already under development by Ultralife, will be used to power the Army's new Land Warrior
communications and weapons system. The CSEL Radio battery will power the latest generation of emergency field radios used for search and rescue. At the completion of the program Ultralife will deliver between 250 and 500 production line produced batteries to the Army in each of these configurations.
Ultralife Batteries, Inc., an ISO-9001 quality certified company, manufactures and markets a comprehensive line of
high-performance lithium batteries. The company's primary (disposable) lithium batteries are used in a wide variety of
consumer, industrial, and military products. The company's advanced polymer rechargeable batteries are being commercialized for cellular telephones, notebook computers, and many other portable electronic products. Key customers include Fyrnetics, First Alert, Maple Chase, Sears, Radio Shack, Eveready and the national defense agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom.
This document contains certain forward-looking statements and information that are based on the beliefs of management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. The statements contained in this document relating to matters that are not historical facts are forward- looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, future demand for the Company's products and services, the successful commercialization of the Company's advanced rechargeable batteries, general economic conditions, government and environmental regulation, competition and customer strategies, technological innovations in the primary and rechargeable battery industries, changes in the Company's
business strategy or development plans, capital deployment, business disruptions, raw materials supplies, and other risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. A more detailed description of such uncertainties is contained in the Company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1999.
Detailed information on Ultralife is available at the Company's web site, www.ultralifebatteries.com.
SOURCE: Ultralife Batteries, Inc. |
