this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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278
China’s ‘land aircraft carrier’ charges flying drone with microwave beam (www.scmp.com)
submitted 1 day ago by FTonsilStones@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
65 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Scientists in China have demonstrated a wireless power transmission system that uses a ground-based microwave emitter to beam energy to an antenna array mounted on the aircraft’s underside. Importantly, they were able to do this while both the drone and charging system were in motion.

In tests, the car-mounted system kept fixed-wing drones in the air for up to 3.1 hours at an altitude of 15 metres (49 feet). The key challenge that the team overcame was maintaining alignment between the emitter and the drone during flight, wrote Song Liwei, the project’s leader.

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[–] sircac@lemmy.world 15 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Many comments are about how impractical/useless is this technology TODAY considering easier alternatives... but I see research exploring recharging electric flight devices in flight, which sounds as cool as powerful to have flight devices with larger services and ranges

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I think the biggest problem is that this way you have a beacon to your flying device and your recharging station, it would not be that difficult to build a bomb/missile that follow the trace to the ground station

[–] sircac@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I think that the "recharging" will always be a vulnerable stage and that the objective is to do that puntually and not a continuous dependence on power supply, but still seems safer and easier to abort than the one done currently with non electric planes, and for defense patrolling you will have more important infrastructures that would be targeted first, I still see only advantages if mature enough

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 1 points 6 hours ago

I think that the “recharging” will always be a vulnerable stage and that the objective is to do that puntually and not a continuous dependence on power supply,

For an electric recharge I think you need a decent size infrastucture that you cannot move that much or easily. I don't think that you can do with a enourmous power bank mounted on a truck.

but still seems safer and easier to abort than the one done currently with non electric planes,

Except that you can refuel a normal plane with just a couple of trucks and a strip of road long enough (Sweden built the Viggen around this principle and even the US has the highway designed to work as temporary airfield by some old law).
While it is easy to hit an airport, it became a lot harder to take out all the roads (in part because you will later need them)

and for defense patrolling you will have more important infrastructures that would be targeted first, I still see only advantages if mature enough

Yes, the charging station. Once I take out it, you electric planes are out of order. No more patrolling.