NDAA Compliance Creates Battery Barriers

Defense demand can turn battery chemistry into a supply chain qualification game, not just a performance race. In drones and ISR systems, a cell is only useful if the full platform can clear U.S. procurement rules around trusted components and sourcing. That favors domestic suppliers that can package compliant cells and materials inside a U.S. production stack, and it makes it harder for lower cost Asian battery vendors to win even when their specs are strong.1 2 3 4

• Blue UAS has become a practical gatekeeper for military drone buying. DIU says the program exists to expand access to NDAA compliant systems and components, and its 2025 update created a formal compliance assessment path, which raises the work required for any supplier that sits inside the drone bill of materials, including batteries.1 2 5
• DoD is also trying to build a domestic battery base for these use cases. DIU’s FAStBat effort focused on domestic or friendshored lithium batteries for soldier systems, vehicles, and aviation, while prior Defense Production Act awards were explicitly aimed at reducing dependence on adversary dominated drone supply chains.3 6
• That matters for Sila because its closest premium rivals, Amprius and Enovix, are chasing the same drone, defense, and aerospace customers with finished high energy cells. Moving from anode powder into complete batteries would let Sila compete not only on watt hours per kilogram, but on whether the entire pack can slot into a compliant U.S. sourced program.4

The next step is a battery market split in which defense and industrial aviation buy from suppliers that can prove both performance and provenance. As Blue UAS style compliance spreads, domestic cell assembly and domestic materials will become part of the product itself, which strengthens the case for Sila to integrate further into finished cells and packs.1 2 3 4