Demonstration, streamed live to the Pentagon from Virginia Tech, combined onboard visual navigation, drone-directed power requests, and dynamic beam steering

Reach Power (Reach), a leader in wireless power-at-a-distance, announced the successful completion of a 10-hour autonomous drone flight powered by wireless power beaming. The demonstration integrated onboard visual navigation, autonomous energy-management decisions and on-demand remote power delivery, without any external intervention, physical power tether, GPS, flight-tracking sensors or manual flight controls.

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Conducted September 22 at the Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing as part of Operational Energy-Innovation’s (OE-I) 2026 Energy Sentry event, the flight marked what Reach believes to be the first commercial power beaming demo streamed live to participants at the Pentagon.

The aircraft managed its own energy autonomously throughout the flight. Using onboard processing, it monitored its state of charge in real time. At full charge, it released the power link and moved off-beam. At a programmed threshold, it returned and called for power. Reach’s electronically steered beam reacquired the platform and restored in-flight power delivery. The aircraft and transmitter handled the entire cycle machine-to-machine, with no operator input. That kind of self-managed energy cycle is a core enabler for persistent, unattended drone operations.

The demonstration sustained flight for 10 hours and represented an approximately 400X extension of the drone’s 90-second battery.

“Previous demonstrations of persistent drone flight have relied on external tracking systems or other controls to keep the drone in position,” said Chris Davlantes, Founder and CEO of Reach. “What makes this achievement different is that we flew a standard quadcopter in fully autonomous, untethered flight for 10 hours, without external flight controls or tracking equipment, and we could have gone for days. The drone completed its mission with full edge AI processing and without GPS. This is a major step toward making persistent drone operations practical and scalable in complex environments, and we’re excited for upcoming product releases."

A Demonstration of Autonomous, On-Demand Wireless Power

• 10 hours of untethered, autonomous flight: Quadcopter operation without GPS, external flight-tracking sensors or manual flight controls.
• Drone-directed energy management: The aircraft monitored battery state and independently requested when wireless power should stop and resume.
• Autonomous departure and reacquisition: The drone briefly moved away from its power position, returned and requested power again; the transmitter reacquired the receiver.
• Dynamic RF beam steering: Software-defined electronics directed energy to the receiver without mechanical transmitter movement.
• Approximately 400X endurance versus test baseline: Ten hours sustained by remote power compared with approximately 90 seconds of battery-only flight for the test configuration.

All of this was uniquely achieved leveraging National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-compliant drone components, with key drone systems manufactured in the United States by ModalAI.

"This demonstration represents an important step toward making persistent autonomy an operational reality," said Chris DePuma, Combat Power Portfolio Lead, Operational Energy–Innovation. "Bringing together autonomous flight, real time tracking, and continuous wireless power delivery demonstrates how these technologies can work together to reduce logistical demands and enable entirely new mission capabilities for the warfighter."

Advancing Wireless Power for Defense and Beyond

Battery limitations remain a major barrier to scaling autonomous operations. Small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) typically operate for just 30 to 40 minutes before requiring a battery swap or recharge, restricting their ability to provide continuous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), perimeter security, communications relay, and other mission-critical functions.

Reach's technology addresses this limitation by delivering energy directly to autonomous platforms while they operate, reducing charging infrastructure, battery replacement, and the personnel required to maintain continuous operations.

Reach has received funding for multiple programs through the Department of War’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF), administered through OE-I. These programs support the development of wireless power capabilities for uncrewed aerial and ground systems, and other autonomous platforms, advancing the technology toward operational use.

Beyond defense, the same technology has potential applications across industrial robotics, infrastructure inspection, public safety, and other markets where battery constraints limit the productivity and scalability of autonomous systems. By enabling devices to operate longer without human intervention, wireless power will become an essential infrastructure layer supporting the broader adoption of autonomy.

Follow Reach at www.linkedin.com/company/reach-power

About Reach

Reach is developing wireless power-at-a-distance technology that delivers energy to autonomous systems without physical connections. Its technology uses highly controlled and safe radio-frequency power beaming to provide power to drones, sensors, robotics and other devices, enabling longer operating times and reducing dependence on batteries and wired infrastructure.

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Reach Power sustains wirelessly powered autonomous drone flight for 10 hours without external controls or human intervention.