“China controls over 80% of solar panel production and 95% of elements needed to produce such product,” Waltz wrote in a letter this week to Army Secretary Christie Wormuth. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who chairs the House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee, suggested at an April 19 hearing that he may insert language in this year’s defense authorization bill requiring the Pentagon to certify that these solar panel and electric vehicle materials do not come from China. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and Democrats’ 2022 budget reconciliation bill included several subsidies for domestic electric vehicle and solar panel manufacturing. It’s also collaborating with the Energy Department’s Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries to improve supply chain resilience.Īn Energy Department fact sheet issued on Thursday touted more than $95 billion private sector investment in domestic battery production since 2021 alongside 160 new or expanded minerals, processing and manufacturing facilities. The Pentagon plans to spend $43 million on the effort in fiscal year 2023, which ends Sept. President Joe Biden last year also authorized defense production act authorities to address critical mineral shortfalls in large-capacity batteries. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante released a non-public, lithium-ion battery strategy in February, aimed at increasing the mining and production needed to produce them within the U.S. “Deputy Secretary Hicks emphasized that increasing lethality and maintaining the United States’ asymmetric military edge will depend on advancing battery technology and ensuring a more resilient domestic supply chain.” “Today, batteries are critical for powering our defense systems-from vehicles and aircraft, to munitions and platforms, to our unmanned systems and satellite systems and more,” Pentagon Spokesman Eric Pahon said in a readout of the April 28 meeting.
Late last month, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks discussed supply chain diversification with executives from lithium-ion battery and mineral companies Bren-Tronics, EaglePicher, Enersys, Forge Nano, General Motors Defense and Our Next Energy.
0 kommentar(er)
