V System to Produce UAV Composite Battery Boxes

V System Composites has been awarded a contract from the House of Batteries to produce composite battery boxes for the Raven UAV.

At 4.5 pounds, a five-foot wingspan and only 38 inches long, the Raven is one of the smallest vehicles in the Army, but its aerial reconnaissance value has filled a niche at the battalion level when larger UAVs are unavailable.

VSC is under contract to produce over 4,000 boxes by the end of 2005, and anticipates follow-on orders for future Raven UAVs. The boxes are produced using low-cost processing techniques, such as an aramid/epoxy prepreg from Bryte Technologies, Inc. They are manufactured in a closed matched-metal mould process with a 250°F cure. VSC will produce these boxes in their new, expansion facility in Anaheim, California.

“In addition to our growing aerospace VARTM and RTM products, we are finding more affordable ways to produce composites using conventional prepreg technologies, such as is being demonstrated on this UAV battery box and also on the battery boxes we are producing for the Apache helicopter,” said Mike Louderback, VSC’s president and general manager..

V Systems’ Paul Oppenheim said that the composite battery enclosure for the Apache helicopter is being produced for the Saft battery company, largest aviation battery company in the world. VSC is working in collaboration with Saft to convert all of their battery enclosures from metal to composites, primarily for weight savings.