High-Flying Fantasies: UK Bets £70M on 'Beamed Power' While Ground Connectivity Lags
AI-generated image · US National Wire
The government is funding stratospheric drones and laser-powered aircraft to reach underserved areas, but the focus on futuristic tech ignores the basic failures of terrestrial networks.
OPINION: There is something profoundly irritating about the timing of the UK government's latest connectivity push. As The Register first reported, while millions of paying customers are still fighting for a reliable signal on the ground, the state is pouring millions into the stratosphere. Instead of forcing carriers to fix the basic, terrestrial connectivity that people actually use to run their lives, the UK is betting on 'beamed power' and high-flying drones. It is a classic case of chasing a futuristic fantasy while the foundation is crumbling.
According to reporting from The Register, the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA)—a body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST)—is allocating £70 million ($94 million) over three and a half years to a program called Enduring Atmospheric Platforms. The goal is to develop high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) that can provide connectivity to underserved parts of the UK and the rest of the world as an alternative to orbital satellites.
As The Register reports, ARIA is backing 18 projects to create aircraft that can operate reliably in the stratosphere. Success for these projects is defined by whether an aircraft can maintain a communications payload with 300 W of power for a full week while staying stationed over the UK.
The technical ambitions are, frankly, dizzying. The Register highlights several companies attempting to solve the power problem:
* **Scalable Laser Ltd** is working on laser-based power beaming using high-power laser diodes and photovoltaic receivers. * **Space Solar Engineering Ltd** is pursuing radio frequency power beaming. * **Hypanode Ltd** is developing a fuel cell system designed to provide 20 times the energy of current batteries.
Other projects include **Menapia**, an aerospace startup developing a "Carousel" constellation of multi-rotor aircraft to create a persistent "canopy" over the UK at altitudes up to 20 km, and **VFP Aerospace**, which is building "Enduring Drone Networks" using a relay system of units that cycle back to ground stations for recharging. VFP Aerospace is aiming for a per-drone production cost of $67,000 (£50,000).
Even the academic side is leaning into the exotic. The Register notes that the **University of Bath** is working on "Stratospheric Navigation and Gravity" (STRAT-NAV) to help aircraft ride atmospheric gravity waves created by hills or weather fronts to extend their endurance.
ARIA's program director for Enduring Atmospheric Platforms, Rico Chandra, told The Register that the goal is to make the UK the place where this industry is designed and scaled, which requires backing "bold ideas," including aircraft with spinning wings.
It is a bold vision, certainly. But for the consumer, it is a distraction. We are being told that the solution for "underserved" communities is to beam power from the ground to a drone 12 miles in the air. Meanwhile, the terrestrial networks—the ones we actually pay our monthly bills to—remain stubbornly inadequate. We don't need laser-beamed power in the stratosphere; we need a signal that doesn't drop when we walk into another room.