# Badland Batteries' Navy-backed drone cell plant opens after its 2025 production goal passed The Fargo, N.D., plant will make lithium-ion cells for unmanned systems. Its cell timetable has moved since 2024. Published 2026-10-14 by TGOs. Canonical: https://tgos.io/news/2026/10/14/badland-batteries-navy-backed-drone-cell-plant-opens-after/ Badland Batteries, a subsidiary of drone battery maker Packet Digital, opened its battery cell plant in Fargo, N.D., on Oct. 8.[1][4][5] The facility will manufacture lithium-ion cells, from electrode manufacturing through formation and aging, and Badland will be able to assemble packs at its facility a mile away.[1][6] The company says it has the capacity to increase production based on industry growth.[1] Badland called the opening the completion of the building.[1] When Packet Digital announced the factory in April 2024, it aimed to make cells for customers by the end of 2025.[5] In April 2026, Packet Digital said cell production would begin that year; on Sept. 23, Badland put the start in October.[2][4] The company's Oct. 8 release says the plant will manufacture cells, without saying production has begun or naming a customer.[1] North Dakota's Clean Sustainable Energy Authority made a $17.4 million award toward the plant.[5] Chief Executive Terri Zimmerman said the company invested nearly $100 million.[1][2] Navy money runs through the project. After a Navy contract phase covering plant design and construction, the company announced in May that it was awarded $9.8 million for Phase 3.[3] In April it announced a $27 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division to scale cell manufacturing.[4] ## Why it matters Phase 3 focuses on scaling volumes, qualifying production equipment and ramping throughput "to meet Navy requirements."[3] Customer deliveries of Fargo-made cells, and progress toward the 2028 maximum-capacity goal set in 2024, will show whether the opening becomes output.[5] *Correction, November 4, 2026:* An earlier version of this brief described the plant as an 80,000-square-foot pouch-cell facility, reported the company's statements that it could produce more than 15,000 cells a day and that more than 90% of the U.S. drone battery supply chain relies on Chinese-made cells, and cited Sen. John Hoeven's figure of $52.6 million in Navy funding. The company's current announcements do not include those details and Sen. Hoeven's release is no longer available, so we removed them. ## Sources 1. Badland Batteries: Badland Batteries Cuts Ribbon at Battery Cell Manufacturing Facility (Oct. 8, 2026) 2. Badland Batteries: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Julie Fedorchak tour battery cell manufacturing facility (Sept. 23, 2026) 3. Badland Batteries: Packet Digital Awarded $9.8 million U.S. Navy Contract to Scale Battery Cell Production (May 5, 2026) 4. Badland Batteries: Packet Digital awarded $27 million Phase III SBIR contract to bolster domestic battery manufacturing (April 8, 2026) 5. Badland Batteries: Packet Digital to build battery cell factory in North Dakota (April 18, 2024) 6. Badland Batteries: Battery Cell Plant