Zepher Flight Labs and NovaSpark Energy have secured contracts from the Defense Innovation Unit to build prototype technologies designed to generate hydrogen in austere and isolated environments to power unmanned aerial systems, small unit equipment and tactical vehicles.
DIU said Monday the companies will build their hydrogen generation prototypes under the Hydrogen at the Tactical Edge of Contested logistics, or HyTEC, project in 2024 in preparation for testing and field experimentation in early 2025.
“With this new capability and by generating hydrogen power at the tactical edge, small units will be better able to self-sustain operations in remote locations and will be less reliant on fuel supply chains,” said Andrew Mawdsley, HyTEC program manager at DIU.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the Naval Research Laboratory, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center and the Department of Energy will serve as project collaborators and evaluators under the HyTEC project.