Japanese tech firm unveils world’s first drone to trigger, control lightning strikes VIDEO

A groundbreaking Tokyo-based tech company claims to have developed the world’s first drone capable of triggering and controlling lightning strikes, offering a potential game-changer in protecting cities and infrastructure from nature’s most unpredictable force. 

The Japanese Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) group has announced that it has created the world’s first drone capable of triggering and controlling lightning strikes, according to a scientific website.

Similar to a mythical flying chariot of Zeus—or more practically, a mobile lightning rod—the drone is designed to generate electricity from thunderclouds. The company claims that the drone can absorb the immense power of lightning strikes while sustaining minimal damage, remaining airborne throughout the process.

While these claims have not yet undergone peer review, if the drone performs as described, it could offer a groundbreaking solution for global protection against lightning-related damage to cities and infrastructure.

Every minute, approximately 6,000 lightning bolts strike the Earth's surface. A single lightning strike can ignite forests, crack concrete, cause steam explosions in trees, and create power surges that lead to widespread outages, melt electrical wiring, and permanently damage electronics.

While traditional lightning rods offer some protection to buildings, the NTT group has spent years developing a more advanced solution to safeguard their critical communications infrastructure.

Despite its unassuming appearance, the company asserts that its drone successfully completed a real-world test in the Northern Hemisphere this past winter, underneath an actual thundercloud.

On December 13, 2024, as a storm approached a mountainous region of Japan’s Shimane prefecture, the drone reportedly ascended to 300 meters (984 feet) while carrying a conductive wire. The wire connected the drone to a switch on the ground. When activated, the switch sent a surge of electrical energy through the wire, grounding the drone. This, according to the company, strengthened the drone's electric field, triggering a lightning strike that was attracted to it.

The NTT group claims the drone survived the lightning strike and continued to fly, though its protective coating partially melted in the process.

This isn't the first instance of scientists attempting to control lightning. Recently, researchers have experimented with using lasers to divert lightning away from critical infrastructure, a concept that was proposed in 1974 and took years of trial and error to make it work under real-world lightning conditions.

Unlike lasers, however, a drone that draws lightning requires protection from the electrical damage it absorbs. To protect its device, NTT enclosed the drone in a metal Faraday cage, which directs electricity around the device and reduces electromagnetic interference.

In laboratory tests, the drone was largely shielded by the Faraday cage, even when subjected to artificial lightning that was five times stronger than natural lightning.

“NTT aims to protect cities and people from lightning damage by flying drones – designed to withstand direct lightning strikes – to accurately predict lightning-prone locations, actively trigger strikes, and safely guide them away,” reads a translation of a recent company press release.

Countries in tropical regions typically experience more lightning strikes than other parts of the world, but studies indicate that climate change and pollution could also increase the likelihood of lightning-related damage in the coming years.

While the NTT group’s initiative to protect cities from lightning damage is promising, they are also exploring ways to harness the energy from lightning strikes directed to the ground by their drones. This ambitious concept, however, remains purely theoretical at this stage. The technology to store such vast amounts of energy and integrate it into existing energy systems has yet to be developed. Some scientists have even called the idea of harvesting energy from lightning “hopeless.”

It remains to be seen whether the NTT group’s new drone technology will withstand further scientific scrutiny.

By Naila Huseynova