Laser power beaming keeps K1000ULE drone flying at 5,000 feet without landing
Kraus Hamdani Aerospace and PowerLight Technologies have demonstrated laser-based wireless power beaming to a K1000ULE drone at Shaw Air Force Base. The test showed the aircraft could sustain intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and communications in flight without returning to the ground for recovery or recharging.
The demonstration was hosted by the AFCENT Battle Lab and backed by U.S. Central Command and the Operational Energy Innovation Directorate. PowerLight said its mobile autonomous system delivered nearly 1 kilowatt of power to the aircraft at altitudes of up to 5,000 feet. The laser link autonomously acquired and tracked the drone, then adjusted to aircraft motion and environmental conditions while maintaining real-time power transfer.
The K1000ULE is on the Pentagon’s Blue UAS Cleared List as a Select Group 2 system, giving it a stronger footing for military adoption. The platform recently received a sole-source $270 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract from U.S. Air Force Central Command for missions in the Middle East. Kraus Hamdani Aerospace has also previously recorded a 75-hour world-record flight for a Group 2 unmanned aircraft, underlining the company’s focus on extreme endurance.
The significance of the Shaw test is that it shifts onboard energy storage away from being the main limit on flight duration. If scaled, the approach could support continuous drone operations for weeks or even months in forward areas with limited infrastructure. PowerLight said the event validated the core architecture and outlined a path from a single transmitter to a distributed network with more power, greater range and altitude, and the ability to support several aircraft at once.
For military users, that could reshape persistent ISR by reducing the need to interrupt missions for landing and refueling. For the wider aerospace and defense sector, the trial points to a future in which medium-class unmanned aircraft can stay on station far longer than battery or fuel reserves would normally allow, expanding coverage in operational environments where downtime is unacceptable.