The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has hired one of its largest contractors, aerospace company Raytheon Technologies (RTX), to design and develop a wireless airborne relay system to deliver power anywhere in the world. This was stated in an official message Web site RTX.
As part of the two-year contract worth $10 million, Raytheon will create a network of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with devices that will receive and transmit energy using lasers.
It is assumed that drones can send energy pulses the required distance along a chain until they reach the target. The target could be an object on the ground or another UAV that needs recharging.
DARPA likened this idea to the internet, where energy is transmitted instead of data.
The military took into account that in this way, up to 70% of the energy sent would be lost when converting electricity into a laser beam and back into electricity at each stage of the route.
However, DARPA believes the system does not need to be effective if it can safely deliver energy to combat zones. The ministry noted that the technology can also be used in civilian life.
The Pentagon’s plans are reminiscent of the projects of Nikola Tesla, the great scientist and inventor of Serbian origin who revealed the possibilities of wireless transmission of electricity at the beginning of the 20th century.
Previously in Russia reported About plans to create special rooms for wireless charging of wireless devices by 2027.