DARPA funds wireless energy network research.

 DARPA funds wireless energy network research. 

Nuclear batteries are effective tools, but in the wrong hands, isotope batteries turn to radioactive dust. And that's why researchers search for replacers for radioactive batteries. The problem with small-size drones is their power source. The small-size batteries' lifetime is quite short. And one of the solutions that give small drones almost unlimited operational time is wireless energy transfer. 

Wireless energy networks allow electric-powered drones and manned aircraft to operate limitlessly. The same systems can used to load electricity for radios and even in electric networks in remote areas. In some visions, the giant satellites deliver energy to Earth using a wireless electric transportation system. Those power satellites aim their radio rays at the antennas, and there, those radiowaves turn to electricity that the network conducts for regular use. 

Those electric transporting networks are high-power radio wave networks where high-power radio masers transport energy.  Engineers can mount this kind of system in ships, aircraft, satellites, and ground stations. 

The thing that makes those networks interesting is that the same systems can used to transport information. And the drone's control signal can travel in those channels. That allows the system to control small drones at long distances. 

The high-power energy load in those information channels makes it very hard to jam them. The third thing that those wireless energy transportation channels are effective is that they can be used as weapons. When plus and minus electric transport radio waves cross, that makes an electric arc in the air. 

And the temperature can rise very high in that thing. The electric arc destroys aircraft and drones. Those systems can also be used as electromagnetic napalm. If the energy rise in that system is fast enough, and the energy level is high enough those electric arcs can cause a similar blast or pressure effect as regular explosives. 

https://interestingengineering.com/military/rtx-10m-power-funding