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This Defense Intelligence Reference Document was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning Office and dated 1 November 2010. It is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program. The report reviews how ultracapacitors work, how they compare with batteries, their history and materials, and their commercial, military and aerospace uses. It concludes that new materials and cell designs will raise energy density and that the U.S. government must understand the devices' spectral signatures.
From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 11/1/10, Las Vegas, Nevada. Released with redactions. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP’s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD’s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys ultracapacitors as high-power energy-storage devices and argues that their main value lies in extremely rapid charge and discharge, very long cycle life, and usefulness in systems that need short bursts of power rather than sustained energy delivery. The report explains how ultracapacitors differ from batteries, reviews the materials and cell designs that determine their performance, and emphasizes that they are especially useful for power stabilization, backup power, load leveling, regenerative braking, and other applications where fast energy transfer matters more than total stored energy. It also notes their drawbacks, including lower energy density, self-discharge, and voltage-management requirements that limit their usefulness as stand-alone replacements for batteries in many applications. The document presents ultracapacitors as a maturing and increasingly important technology whose most credible aerospace and military uses lie in pulsed-power, missile and munitions systems, electric propulsion support, and other hybrid power architectures rather than in long-duration primary energy storage.
UNCLASSIFIED1/FOR 8ffl@IAL tt91! e"t I tuning the inner diameter may provide further enhancements. Figure 7 shows a vertically aligned CNT forest produced at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center (LMATC). Lockheed Martin has worked with a number of catalysts and surfaces to grow tailored CNT forests for a variety of applications. Select locations throughout Lockheed Martin have been developing CNT-based technologies, utilizing vertically aligned CNTs, CNTs dispersed onto surfaces, and CNTs dispersed into other media. LMATC possesses expertise in CNT growth processes and characterization and has capabilities for both materials development and ultracap testing. Lockheed Martin's NEARLab facility produces CNT-coated glass fibers, which may provide a cost-effective power storage solution that has structural elements built in. Ultracaps assembled from CNT forests appear extremely promising for use in microelectronics. Figure 7. CNT Forest. CNT forests grown in Lockheed Martin's laboratories can be tailored for specific sizes, lengths, and densities . Graphene is a relatively new discovery amongst carbonaceous materials. There are a number of types of graphene that can be characterized by the number of layers of graphene, the functionalization, or the oxidation status. Most graphene for ultracapacitor applications is going to be few-layer graphene and large-area flakes. The fewer the layers, the higher the active surface area will be. Single layer is ideal, but manufacturing considerations make single layer difficult, even at the laboratory scale. Functionalization will be directed toward improving capacitance or modifications to enable battery-like performance. Theoretical values of graphene indicate it could become an important material for the next generation of ultracapacitors. Graphene may be used as the sole electrode material, or it cou ld be used as a conductive additive that also provides capacitance. The surface area is calculated to be as high as 2,600 m 2/g, the thermal conductivity is 5,000 W/m·K, and the charge carrier mobility is 200,000 cm 2/V•s. High surface area values and great conductivity are ideal properties for creating an electrode with very high capacitance and extremely favorable rate capabilities. Reported capacitances ra nge from 135 to 205 F/g in aqueous electrolytes. 31 • 32 Figure 8 shows a transmission electron microscope image of graphene flakes used for ultracapacitor electrodes. These measurements come from few-layer graphene, rat her than single layer, which suggest UNCLASSIFIEO/fFOA OFFI&I:.l.b YS& ONLY 18
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Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 34 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.