DARPA SUPER PBD

[Hood]

DARPA has selected the Silent Falcon UAV to test the feasibility of remotely charging an aircraft with a laser for its Stand-off Ubiquitous Power/Energy Replenishment - Power Beaming Demo (SUPER PBD) programme.

The Silent Falcon is scheduled to begin testing in January 2019 with the aim of charging the UAV via a laser at a distance of 10km. The UAV has solar panels on the wings and additional panels on the tail which will receive energy from a laser beam at ranges starting at 10km.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/darpa-selects-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-to-be-powered-450884/

 

[ouroboros]

Interesting that LaserMotive isn't the one doing this.

 

[TomcatViP]

The aerospace industry has a long history of attempting development of ultra-long endurance aircraft but few - if any - that recharge using a laser.

As stated by ouroboros, LM claimed to have successfully tested such charging means on an UAV back in 2012:

ockheed Martin's recent demonstration of a Stalker drone charged by lasers likely won't change that. The company flew its 13.2-pound surveillance drone in a wind tunnel while a laser system from a company called LaserMotive wirelessly transferred power to it. After 48 hours of continuous flight, the drones' batteries were far from depletion — they actually had more electricity stored than when the tests began.

https://www.theverge.com/2012/7/12/3154543/lockheed-martin-stalker-drone-48-hour-laser-power

The end goal would be to have on-orbit satellite charger to power anywhere in the world such UAV.

https://youtu.be/-9ukRpvolYg

 

[jsport]

The Air Force has a groovy idea to beam sunshine power down from space on radio waves

The Air Force Research Laboratory is developing tech to capture solar energy, convert it into radio waves, then beam it down to Earth.

taskandpurpose.com