Army Power Gap: Legacy Vehicles Undersupply Drones, C2; Industry Called

April 15, 2025 — The U.S. Army’s ground units are running out of power to keep their drones airborne, command posts running, and next-gen counter-UAS systems online. The problem isn’t just a lack of batteries—it’s that the fleet’s older vehicles, from the M1A2 Abrams to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, simply weren’t designed to supply the juice today’s gear demands. At the annual GVSETS conference in Detroit on Thursday, senior Army acquisition officials made a blunt pitch to industry: Stop pitching more generators and extra battery packs. Give us something that actually works on the move and doesn’t scream “shoot here” on the battlefield. Since the event, Breaking Defense has learned the Army is fast-tracking a new Vehicle Power Enhancement Program (VPEP) that will field-test fuel cell and hybrid drivetrain retrofits on legacy platforms as early as fall 2025.

“Every formation we have today is underpowered. Every single one,” said Brig. Gen. Troy Denomy, the Army’s program acquisition executive for maneuver, during his keynote. “And more power requirements are coming. New counter-UAS systems are going to show up. Next Generation C2 is going to show up. We have to solve this without buying more generators.” Denomy pointed out that brigade commanders now routinely meter how many drones they can launch—not because of the mission, but because of how much power they have to recharge them.

The Army’s chief technology officer, Alex Miller, who shared the stage with Denomy, drove home the tactical downside of today’s fix. “Generators are loud. They create a lot of visual signature. They create a lot of thermal signature, and we have to get past that,” Miller said. The noise and heat make a generator-equipped unit a prime target for enemy sensors and drones, especially against peer adversaries investing heavily in electromagnetic warfare.

But simply handing out more batteries isn’t the answer either. Denomy pushed back hard on that idea. “Solutions that are presented to me like, ‘Well, just give them another battery’—you walk with five batteries in your pack for eight hours, and tell me how your feet feel. And you got to fight when you get there. So just adding batteries is not the solution.” The burden on individual soldiers, already carrying heavy loads, would only grow heavier.

The service is looking to new vehicle platforms for help. The XM30, which will replace the Bradley, and the M1E3 Abrams, set to succeed the M1A2, are being designed with more exportable power in mind. The heavy variants of the Infantry Squad Vehicle are also getting that upgrade, as Breaking Defense previously reported. But those new vehicles won’t be in the field for years. The immediate need is on the thousands of legacy trucks and armored vehicles already in service.

That’s where VPEP comes in. According to sources familiar with the program, the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) is now evaluating proposals from three industry teams for a retrofit kit that can be installed on a Bradley or a tactical wheeled vehicle within a week. The goal is to generate at least 30 kW of continuous exportable power without idling the main engine—and without the noise and heat of a generator. Fuel cells are a leading candidate, but Miller said the Army is also pushing for alternatives to liquid fuel altogether. “We have got to change the fact that liquid fuel is still the most power dense, efficient way to move energy across the battlefield. We’ve got to change that,” he said.

Denomy echoed that call, noting that fuel cell technology has