The plane caught the satellite with a laser — and this is not fiction, but a real test for the future army

How a laser beam replaces a radio

Imagine: an airplane in the sky, a satellite in orbit. There are no radio waves between them, but a thin laser beam. In September, such a connection became operational for the first time in a real flight. General Atomics and Kepler Communications conducted tests during which the laser terminal on board the aircraft established and maintained an optical connection with a small satellite in low orbit.

It's not just "getting in touch" — it's the most precise job: catching a pencil—thick ray flying from orbit on a moving plane is like shooting a needle into a needle from a distance of 500 km.

General Atomics and Kepler: Who's behind it

General Atomics is a well—known developer of drones and military systems. This time, they put their optical terminal on the De Havilland Twin Otter, a small twin—engine aircraft that is often used for testing. The terminal was mounted on a 12-inch tower to freely "look" into the sky.

The satellite belongs to the Canadian company Kepler Communications, which is building a network of small devices for global data transmission. It was equipped with an optical terminal from Tesat-Spacecom, the German leader in this field.

Why is this important for the army

Radio communication is reliable, but slow and vulnerable. Laser communication is much faster, almost impossible to intercept and does not interfere. For the army, this means:

• Ultra-fast transmission of video from drones, intelligence, maps.
• Resistance to electronic suppression.
• The ability to work in a dense electromagnetic environment where the radio is "clogged".

The US Space Force is actively working on the PWSA, a distributed network of satellites. The laser connection between them and the planes will make this network alive and reactive.

Catching a ray in the sky — how does it work in general

The terminal on the plane first finds the satellite by coordinates. Then he turns on the tracking system: mirrors and sensors begin to adjust the position in order to keep the beam. When the signal is caught, synchronization takes place, and only then data is exchanged. Even pitching or turning the aircraft should not break the connection.

During the test, the connection was held long enough to transmit data packets in both directions. This is the main success.

Sources

1. Satellite Today — General Atomics & Kepler air-to-space laser-comms demo
2. Yahoo Finance — GA-Kepler optical link success
3. General Atomics — official release on the air-space laser test
4. SatcomRus — laser space comms as a 2025 trend
5. HighTech+ — Stanford study reverses autism symptoms in mice
6. FlightGlobal — Royal Navy’s first Malloy T-150 drone resupply
7. Maritime Executive — ship-to-ship drone deliveries
8. Forces News — HMS Prince of Wales & HMS Dauntless drone flight
9. Naval Technology — Royal Navy drone logistics potential
10. BBC News — official release and video of the Malloy T-150 mission