First in-flight refueling: now in-flight recharging?

 

I was intrigued to read that the US Army is looking at ways to recharge battery-powered drones (UAV's) in flight.

In a bid to revolutionize unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations, the US Army has patented a new technology that can keep its drones in the air forever.

. . .

The idea is simple: recharge a drone or multiple drones during their flights, just like mid-air refueling for jets.

Based on the patent document, the new technology includes a system for deploying a powered drone tether.

Various mechanisms are included to connect and disconnect rechargeable drones during flight.

A top drone can carry a special rope to extend it from a base station supplying power. This allows one or more rechargeable drones to connect for charging and then detach to perform independent flights.

There's more at the link.

This appears to have all sorts of possibilities.  If they can do it for drones, could they do it for full-size aircraft?  What about helicopters?  (I can see the rotor having all sorts of interesting effects on a dangling power cable!)  How much power can be transferred, how quickly?  How many drones can be recharged simultaneously through a single dangling cable?

All of these questions are intriguing, but with the technology in its earliest stages, I guess it'll be years before we have answers.  All I can say is, based on events over the past couple of days, it might be best if Israeli engineers were not involved in the design . . . or the recharging might become a high-energy event!  (You should pardon the expression.)

Peter