A stratospheric balloon could become a high-altitude drone carrier, capable of loitering for weeks and launching solar-powered UAVs
THE SO WHAT
Persistent, balloon-based UAV carriers turn high-altitude coverage into more of a logistics and weather-modeling problem than a propulsion problem. Defense, telecom, and ISR operators should be modeling where multi-week loiter plus cheap solar drones beats satellites or crewed aircraft on cost and responsiveness.
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