Battery demand from defence applications launched in Benchmark’s Non-road Mobile Machinery report

New data from Benchmark sheds light on the battery demand from defence applications. While still a fraction of the volume of the global battery industry, ongoing instability across multiple regions has highlighted the impact that battery-dependant applications can have on modern warfare.

Alongside rapidly growing drone and unmanned weapons systems, demand is building in bases for power generation redundancy on base, in next generation fighter jets, submarines and ground vehicles, and remains steadier for military personnel power.

How large is defence battery demand?

In 2025, battery demand from defence applications totalled 4.34GWh globally. Just shy of 40% of this demand was generated by drones, a share that’s rapidly climbed from around 15% in 2020 to be the dominant driver of demand. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 set new parameters in drone warfare and has led to an industry outputting tens of thousands of drones daily. Supply chains around this new class of weapons have had to build quickly and evolve constantly.

Major military powers globally are starting to take the future of drone warfare seriously and are preparing to scale up domestic manufacturing capabilities. Benchmark’s detailed defence modelling incorporates active conflict tracking alongside procurement and development programmes of next generation weaponry. Together this captures highly consumable FPV-style interceptor and attack drone technology, as well as larger unmanned aerial, underwater, and surface systems.

Beyond drones, soldier power and energy storage from bases are large drivers of defence battery demand. Both benefit from technological requirements aligned with batteries available from larger, commercial markets. However, this can be a double-edged sword as procurement security risks dictate greater domestication of supply chains.

More niche manufacturers are now realising the potential that comes from the defence industry, where low volumes can be an advantage not a weakness. This becomes especially relevant in the categories of weapons and vehicles; highly specialised battery systems designed for narrow sets of parameters won’t be available off the shelf yet will be critical to militaries.

Coverage across each of these defence applications is now available via Benchmark’s Non-road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) datafile with forecasted GWh and chemistry share available to 2050. An upcoming special issue and webinar will also discuss these intricate markets in more detail and pave the way for broader analysis, company and manufacturer profiling in the 2026 edition of the NRMM report later this year. Register for the webinar: https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/events/defence-webinar