The Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has developed and tested technology that can protect infrastructure and cities from lightning strikes. Drones are used to intercept them, which can trigger and direct lightning strikes. The drones are protected by a special cage.
The Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has developed and tested technology that can protect infrastructure and cities from lightning strikes. Drones are used to intercept them, which can trigger and direct lightning strikes. The drones are protected by a special cage.
Lightning causes 100 to 200 billion yen (up to $1.4 million) in damage in Japan every year, not including human casualties. Meanwhile, conventional lightning rods do not provide wide enough coverage and are difficult to install (for example, on wind turbines).
The company uses ground-based monitoring equipment to assess lightning hazards. When storm clouds approach and an electrical field fluctuation is observed, a drone is sent to intercept.
The drones are equipped with a lightning-proof cage. During a test flight on December 13, 2024, the drone, attached to a ground wire, climbed to a height of 300 m and approached a suspected thundercloud. NTT claims to have observed a powerful electrical pulse and claims to have achieved “the world’s first successful lightning induction using a drone.”
When lightning struck the drone, it was able to continue flying thanks to the cage's protection (although it partially melted). The drone can stay in the air after a lightning strike, NTT says, and prior to this test, they had successfully tested them with discharges of up to 150,000 amps.
"It is expected that in the future this result will contribute to the study of lightning generation, which is not yet fully understood, as well as to the reduction of damage caused by lightning to cities and people," the company said in a statement.
