Jakarta, INTI – Japan’s latest technological breakthrough has made lightning less terrifying than ever. Through an advanced drone-based system, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has not only managed to control lightning strikes but has also opened up possibilities for harnessing lightning as a future energy source.
World's First Anti-Lightning Drone
NTT Japan has made a historic leap by developing the world’s first drone-based system capable of guiding and controlling lightning. The trial was conducted between December 2024 and January 2025 in the mountainous area near Hamada City, Shimane Prefecture.
The drone is equipped with a lightning-resistant cage and a high-voltage grounding switch system. When the electric field in the atmosphere intensifies due to storm clouds, the switch is activated to create fluctuations in the electric field—triggering a lightning strike directed at the drone. Impressively, the protective cage can withstand currents of up to 150 kiloamperes (kA), five times stronger than typical lightning, with a protection rate of 98%.
Despite enduring powerful strikes that partially melted its cage, the drone remained airborne and stable without sustaining damage.
A New Solution to Protect Infrastructure
Each year, Japan loses up to 200 billion yen due to lightning-related damages. Conventional lightning rods often prove ineffective in remote areas or difficult-to-reach structures such as wind turbines and open fields.
NTT’s drone innovation offers a revolutionary solution: a mobile system capable of monitoring, attracting, and precisely directing lightning to safe locations. The goal is clear—protect vital infrastructure and urban areas from lightning threats while enhancing public safety.
Toward Lightning Energy Harvesting
NTT’s ambition goes beyond controlling lightning—they aim to harness it. In the long term, the company envisions a system capable of storing lightning energy and repurposing it to meet future energy needs.
In collaboration with Fujitsu, NTT has developed a drone network that can monitor thunderclouds and guide lightning strikes to designated targets. This technology not only promises enhanced infrastructure protection but also opens the door to utilizing lightning as a renewable energy source.
A Giant Leap in Lightning Science
Beyond its practical benefits, the success of this experiment represents a major breakthrough in scientific understanding. Actively controlling lightning allows researchers to gain deeper insights into its formation mechanisms and improve the accuracy of strike zone predictions.
NTT aims to deploy this drone network in major cities and critical zones in the future. With this, lightning will no longer be seen as a fearsome threat, but as a major opportunity in the fields of technology and energy.
Conclusion
Through its lightning-resistant drone innovation, Japan has opened a new chapter in the history of science and technology. Once a terrifying force of nature, lightning can now be controlled, redirected, and even utilized as an alternative energy source. If this vision is realized, lightning could one day become one of the cleanest and most freely available sources of electricity known to mankind.
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