DARPA has enlisted Raytheon Technologies, one of its largest defense contractors, to explore a wireless airborne relay system capable of delivering power globally. The arrangement was announced through an official RTX communications page.
Under a two-year contract valued at 10 million dollars, Raytheon will build a network of high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with hardware to receive and transmit energy via laser links. The concept envisions UAVs forming a relay chain that can pass energy from one node to the next until it reaches a ground target or a recipient UAV needing a recharge.
DARPA compares the idea to the internet, but for energy: data would be replaced by power, moving through a distributed, airborne network rather than through traditional cables or localized power sources. The plan acknowledges significant energy losses, estimating that up to roughly seven-tenths of the energy could be lost during the conversion from electricity to a laser beam and back to electricity at each hop along the chain.
Despite these efficiency challenges, the agency argues that the ability to deliver energy safely to combat zones holds strategic value, and it also foresees civilian applications that could benefit from flexible, long-range power delivery in remote or disaster-affected areas.
The project echoes long-standing impulses associated with early wireless power concepts and the broader legacy of Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-born inventor whose early 20th-century experiments explored the feasibility of transmitting electricity without wires. The current effort reframes those ambitions for modern defense needs, leveraging contemporary laser and aerospace capabilities to create a global energy delivery grid of sorts.
Geopolitical observers have noted parallel discussions in other nations about establishing dedicated facilities or protocols to support wireless charging technologies, with some markets outlining timelines that extend into the late 2020s and beyond. Analysts emphasize that while the technology raises questions about practicality, safety, and cost, it also has the potential to redefine how energy security is managed in both military and civilian contexts.