NRL Tests Cooperative Soaring Concept for Sustained Flight of UAV Sailplanes

Pennsylvania State's tests centered on a suite of software which uses sensor and other data to calculate where thermals should be, allowing their UAV testbed to continue flying, possibly indefinitely.

It feels like there's a ton of commercial applications for pseudo-"geostatic" aerial network nodes. Though, I'm not sure how we square those benefits against the risks of the military-industrial complex advancing its ubiquitous surveillance capabilities.