RENO, Nev., 23 April 2009. Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. in Reno, Nev., is shipping 40 advanced military battery systems for the U.S. Army's M119 105 millimeter lightweight gun digitization program to equip the weapon for network centric warfare and the digital battlefield.

Altair is supplying the military batteries to a military testing program to demonstrate batteries that improve performance, reliability, and safety on the M119 gun batteries. The 24 volt/22 amp hour battery has integrated battery management system (BMS), and for weapons, military vehicles, portable power, and backup power applications.

"The projected long-life of the batteries is also an important attribute, which is expected to help the military replace batteries less often than shorter-lived, conventional lithium-ion batteries," says Terry Copeland, president and CEO at Altair Nano.

Managing the engineering and software design for the M119 gun digitization program is the Armaments Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. Battery tests should continue through this summer 2009.

Once approved for the M119 lightweight gun digitization program, the Altairnano battery systems could be offered for use throughout the military's M119 inventory, which currently numbers around 850 howitzers.

For more information contact Altair Nano online at www.altairnano.com.