DARPA Wants To Retrofit Tankers Aircraft To Refuel Drones With Laser Energy

Kimberly Johnson

Friday, June 17, 2022 at 02:59 PM ET

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A Boeing KC-46A Pegasus takes off at Yokota Air Base, Japan. [U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe]

Key Takeaways:

DARPA is exploring an "Airborne Energy Well concept" to wirelessly power unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) using laser beams emitted from existing Air Force aerial tankers like the KC-46 and KC-135.
The initiative aims to significantly extend drone range and operational endurance by enabling them to receive directed energy, reducing their reliance on heavy onboard energy storage.
This effort seeks to identify technologies, such as underwing power beaming pods capable of 100kW laser output, to support future fleets of UAS and their integration with piloted aircraft.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants U.S. Air Force aerial tankers to take refueling to the next level by powering up unmanned aircraft systems with laser beams of energy in order to extend their range.

DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office laid out the idea for the Airborne Energy Well concept in a Request for Information (RFI) seeking to explore wireless energy transfer for drones earlier this week. The agency wants to identify technologies that could be retrofitted into existing refueling aircraft, specifically the KC-46 Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker.