Raytheon has received a $10 million contract from DARPA for the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program, which aims to revolutionize energy distribution by leveraging power beaming for near-instantaneous energy transport in a resilient, multi-path network.
Under the two-year contract, Raytheon will create an airborne relay design to enable “webs” capable of harvesting, transmitting and redirecting optical beams. These “webs” will transmit energy from ground sources to high altitude for the precision, long-range operation of unmanned systems, sensors and effectors. Harvesting energy will ultimately reduce the military’s dependence on fuel as well as its delivery and storage.
“Energy is essential in the modern battlespace, and it is critical to achieving military objectives,” said Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon. “When operating in contested environments, energy may not always be available or abundant, making the need to generate, store and re-distribute it vital. This technology seeks to enable our military to generate power where it is safe and efficient to do so and easily distribute it to other platforms.”
https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2022-10-05b
