DARPA Breaks Wireless Power Record, Beaming Energy Over Five Miles Away

Although it surely bypasses the objective behind the concept of wireless power transmission envisioned by Nikola Tesla, DARPA’s Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program recently set a new record for wireless power transmission, beaming more than 800 watts of power delivered during a 30-second transmission from a laser 5.3 miles away. The tests, which took place in New Mexico, transferred more than a megajoule of energy, smashing previous records set by the POWER program, which previously beamed 230 watts across 1 mile.

What does DARPA’s POWER hope to achieve? From all accounts, it doesn’t sound like it aims to bring free electricity to homes. Instead, the goal of the DARPA-led team, which brought together industry and government, including the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF), is to deliver energy to the battlefield. Energy, after all, is an essential requirement for ongoing military operations, and conventional means are slow, dangerous, and resource intensive.

DARPA noted that the successful tests mark a critical first step toward the long-term goal of the POWER program, which is to be able to instantly beam power from a location where it can be effortlessly generated to wherever it’s needed, “opening a novel design space for platform capabilities unbounded by fuel limitations.”

Since Nikola Tesla’s time, wireless power transmission (WPT) has been a sought-after goal of many. Think of the possibilities. Tesla’s name is frequently associated with the concept of “free energy.” Tesla’s ambitious plans were centered on his “World Wireless System,” which was based on the Wardenclyffe Tower. Tesla began constructing the 187-foot tower in Long Island, New York, in 1901, with the structure designed to transmit power and communications globally without the need for wires. However, although direct sabotage from those threatened by Tesla’s innovation is not well-documented, funding from J.P. Morgan was withdrawn in 1904, leaving Tesla’s vision unfulfilled.

Recently, interest in the energy vision presented 125 years ago by Tesla has increased, yet not for the same reasons, but for both military applications and space-based solar power. Communist China already has a grand scheme to build a gigantic solar-powered space station, claiming it could collect more energy in a year than “all the oil on earth” and beam continuous energy back to the Earth through microwaves. This developing technology would collect and transmit energy from sunlight into space, where it is 10 times more intense than at the Earth’s surface. Remember, no matter how much technology improves, it still needs a way to get from Point A to Point B, a task that is often treacherous, especially in battle, where power lines cannot be swiftly strung or pipelines dug and buried, and competition is no doubt fierce.

DARPA shared that the recent tests, referred to as PRAD (POWER Receiver Array Demo), took place at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. They marked significant progress toward POWER’s goal of instantly transmitting energy from generation sites to where it’s required. A closer look at the experiment reveals that PRAD utilized a new receiver technology with a compact aperture for the laser beam to shine into, ensuring very little light escapes once it has entered the receiver. Inside the receiver, the laser strikes a parabolic mirror that reflects the beam onto dozens of solar cells, converting the energy back to usable power with roughly 20 percent efficiency.

Some of the transmitted power even popped popcorn, although the team aspires to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in future applications, not necessarily to pop popcorn or prioritize inexpensive energy for food. According to DARPA, what makes the tests even more remarkable is the fact that both the transmitter and the receiver were on the ground, and yet were able to pass the beam through the thickest part of the atmosphere. Next, they plan to test power beaming through multiple relays and vertically through a thinner atmosphere for improved efficiency. When announcing the POWER project in 2023, DARPA’s program lead, Dr. Paul Jaffe, shared:

“This project has the potential to advance power beaming by orders of magnitude, which could radically reshape society’s relationship with energy. A wireless energy web could unlock power from new and diverse sources, including from space, and rapidly and reliably connect them to energy-starved consumers.

Energy underpins every human activity, including defense. We need ways to deliver energy that overcome the vulnerabilities and other shortcomings of our current paradigm. The next leap forward in optical power beaming could hinge on relay technologies.”

Without question, a world that sounds like science fiction is fast approaching, and at warp speed. The new receiver was conceived by Terevec Technologies, which is supported by NASA, NAVSUP, Johns Hopkins University, the Office of Naval Research, Aerospace, and DARPA. The principal investigator in the project is Raymond Hoheisel, with additional support from Packet Digital, a battery and power system company that develops products for autonomous systems, with an emphasis on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and is primarily funded by government contracts, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Just as DARPA brought us the dangerous mRNA injections that were mass-tested during the COVID-19 pandemic following over a decade of research and development by the covert agency, DARPA is undoubtedly on a fast track to bring wireless energy to the battlefield, and potentially beyond. However, while futuristic, space sci-fi type war is on the horizon, free energy for all doesn’t seem to be the objective. And let’s not forget the continued advancement of Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) or DARPA’s likely link to the maddening and toxic chemtrails that, though denied, relentlessly crisscross the skies around the globe leaving behind a hazy, distorted sky.

RFK Jr doesn't mention chemtrails and it's open to interpretation, but the questions he responded to is crystal clear https://t.co/bcC3l6iWTG

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) April 30, 2025

In a June 4, 2025, summary following its successful tests, DARPA begins by stating, “Energy is a fundamental currency in the battlefield.” Indeed, it is, and the battlefield of tomorrow is without question DARPA’s direct focus. The group will now move on to testing power beaming both across multiple connected relays and vertically, where the atmosphere is thinner and transmission is more efficient. Let the next phase of POWER’s Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay begin. Pleased and ready for Phase Two, Jaffe exclaimed:

“This demonstration broke through misconceptions about the limits of power beaming technology, and it is already spurring industry to reimagine what is possible.”