Amprius Wins $75 Million Drone-Battery Grant, but Only $22 Million Is Funded

Amprius Technologies signed a fixed-price agreement on Sept. 23 with the U.S. Department of War worth up to $75 million to convert an electric-vehicle battery line into a factory for drone cells, but only about $22 million has been obligated so far, according to DroneXL. The remainder is subject to congressional appropriation.

The award runs through the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, known as IBAS, and the agreement is called Project acCELLerate, per DroneXL's reading of Amprius' Form 8-K. Its base period ends Sept. 22, 2028.

What the money would build

The target is 12 million silicon-anode pouch cells a year for Group 1, 2 and 3 unmanned aircraft, with the line running in early 2028, per DroneLife. Total project cost is about $100 million including in-kind investment, so the $75 million grant is three-quarters of the plan, and the obligated $22 million is about 29 percent of the grant.

The line already exists. It belongs to what Electrek calls "a major South Korean manufacturer", which has not been named in any of the three reports. Amprius Chief Executive Tom Stepien told CNBC, as quoted by DroneXL, "We're not pouring concrete, we're not putting steel up."

That sentence is the case for the deal: retooling a finished line is faster than building a plant. It is also why the schedule depends on a company that is not a party to the headline.

Item	Figure	Source
Grant ceiling	$75 million	DroneLife, DroneXL
Obligated so far	about $22 million	DroneXL
Total project cost	about $100 million	DroneLife
Annual capacity target	12 million cells	DroneLife, Electrek
Target date	early 2028	DroneLife

1. Total project cost100 $M
2. Grant ceiling75 $M
3. Obligated so far22 $M

Source: DroneXL and DroneLife, accessed 2026-10-06

What the cells are claimed to do

DroneLife lists the second-generation SiCore cell at 500 Wh/kg; DroneXL says silicon-anode cells hold up to twice the energy density of conventional graphite-anode cells. Both are company figures. Neither report names a test lab, a discharge rate or a temperature, and a watt-hour-per-kilogram number without them is a best case.

Energy density matters for drones because every gram of battery is weight the airframe has to lift, so a denser cell buys flight time or payload. The other reason for the grant is sourcing: Amprius said the money is meant to establish "a primary source of domestic, NDAA-compliant battery production," per DroneLife.

Electrek notes an earlier $15 million order, in 2024, from a drone maker it describes only as a "leading Unmanned Aircraft System manufacturer." That is the only demand signal in the reporting, and the customer is unnamed.

What would change the read

The number to watch is obligated dollars. Twenty-two million dollars of $75 million means roughly $53 million still depends on appropriations, and a conversion of this kind needs tooling orders well before the first cell. A second tranche, or the Korean manufacturer's name appearing on a filing, would move the early-2028 date from aspiration to schedule. Other physical-AI hardware is being financed on similar terms: RoboCo's $1 billion secondary and Figure's BMW fleet both turn on delivery dates, and Amprius' next filing is the first place this one will show up.