The United States Army began looking into unmanned aerial war machines towards the end of World War I. In 1939, Reginald Denny provided the United States with its first military drone, the Radioplane OQ-2. In 1994, the Pentagon entered a contract with General Atomics to deliver a drone that would become the cornerstone of the United States Armed Force’s dominance. By the early 2000s, the General Atomics Predator drone was becoming a commonly discussed news topic. At a price point of $40 million, the drone promised to give the United States the tactical advantage needed to remain the strongest military force in the world.

As the technology that supported the Predator increased, the drone proved its worth in helping the United States win the war in Iraq. Today, the United States has the largest military drone program with the Predator and MQ-9 Reaper being the headliners. However, as drones have become more and more affordable, nearly any enemy combatant can use them offensively and defensively. Besides the wide availability of drones, hackers have found ways to intercept the communications used to control them. While the United States continuously pumps money into increasing military drone programs, they recently began funding programs that would protect drones from hackers that could compromise missions.

On March 12, 2019, the United States Department of Defense established the Space Development Agency (SDA) under the directorship of Derek M. Tournear. As stated on SDA’s website, “Our charge is to create and sustain lethal, resilient, threat-driven, and affordable military space capabilities that provide persistent, resilient, global, low-latency surveillance to deter or defeat adversaries.” One of the key projects SDA has undertaken is to ensure that the communication lines between command centers and drones are secure. SDA turned to General Atomics to design a series of CubeSats, miniature research satellites, that would maintain secure communications with an MQ-9 using laser beams.

The drones used by the United States are operated through satellite connections via broadband radio transmissions. And while this had worked well at the dawn of military drone use, it is no longer viable. Using a network of CubeSats in low-earth orbit, the SDA aims to direct a very fine optical laser beam directly at a drone to transmit secure data. In theory, an enemy being able to intercept the laser beams would be virtually impossible. For the laser beams to work successfully, SDA will need to have plenty of satellites in orbit. Director Tournear explained that SDA is proposing to build a low-latency constellation network of 150 satellites called Tranche One.

Before sending up the satellite constellation, Director Tournear said that the agency is about to initiate a smaller scale trial. “In just a few short days, we’ll be launching several satellites. Two of those are [MQ-9 maker] General Atomics satellites to be able to do the laser conductivity in space,” Director Tournear said in early June of 2021. “Then those satellites will also be able to do the laser conductivity down directly to an MQ-9 platform.” The laser beams will be directed at an optical terminal attached to an MQ-9 traveling at an altitude of approximately 25,000ft. The trial is set to last for 2 weeks.

If the trial proves successful, SDA will proceed with the full scale Tranche One program. Director Tournear envisions another six Tranche levels in the coming years. With that many satellites in orbit, optical communications can have a huge impact on the military and commercial drone market. “I want industry to view this as a way to develop a product that then they can sell into that market to try and win a portion of that market share,” Director Tournear said. “As long as we do that we’ll have a robust industry base.” With laser beam communications, the worry of drones being intercepted can be eliminated. For defensive tactics, this will become the next frontier in military drone operations.