NEO partners with South Korean Army to advance battery solutions

NEO Battery Materials — a Canada-based low-cost, silicon-enhanced battery developer that enables longer-running, rapid-charging batteries for drones, robotics and physical AI — has announced that it has entered into a defense partnership agreement with the South Korean Army’s Capital Defense Command (CDC).  

The agreement builds on NEO’s momentum in its Korean Defense Integration Strategy and serves as a milestone due to the CDC’s ability to advocate for the prompt implementation of non-Chinese battery solutions that meet stringent security clearance and performance requirements, NEO said.

The agreement will focus on the supply and deployment of high-performance, defense batteries within the CDC’s drone and robotics units to enhance operational runtime and energy efficiency. Along with Korean drone partners, NEO will also provide specialized drone training and technical battery advisory to support CDC’s personnel. 

“The CDC was highly impressed with the drone flight time performance exhibited by NEO’s high-performance batteries compared to commercial Chinese products,” Lieutenant General Changjoon Eo, Commander of the Capital Defense Command, said. “As the ROK [Republic of Korea] Army and its units initiate the transition towards a Korea-made supply chain, NEO Battery will act as an integral partner for the CDC and its sub-units to ensure traceability and performance for defense batteries in our drone and robotics platforms.”

“Securing this partnership with a high-ranking command unit such as the CDC further validates the effectiveness of NEO’s battery technology,” Spencer Huh, President & CEO of NEO, said. “As the CDC is a heavy consumer of drone technology and requires high-performance, non-Chinese components to ensure national security, NEO’s in-country presence, along with our robust performance data and wide technology offering, aptly positions us to meet stringent scopes of work for the highest levels of the ROK military.”