--- description: Find out why NTT Lightning Drone is on TIME's list of 2025's best inventions. title: NTT Lightning Drone: The Best Inventions of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940ad106336f9ca0/6998ca8a66d4e3307acbceaa/lightning-drone-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 09, 2025 # NTT Lightning Drone Aerial storm protection by [Joe Mullich](/author/joe-mullich/) ## Joe Mullich Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Courtesy NTT Many people take cover when thunderclouds threaten. Experimental drones from Japanese tech giant NTT rush toward them to "tame the lightning," says Senior Research Engineer Atsushi Nagao. In a world-first last December, an NTT drone successfully manipulated the electric field to trigger a lightning strike on itself—and kept flying, thanks to a protective cage. The company aims to one day use these aerial lightning rods to protect cities and infrastructure from strikes. Beyond that, Nagao says the ultimate goal is to harvest renewable energy from "one of nature's most dangerous phenomena,” which can “reach temperatures hotter than the sun's surface." These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318317/ntt-lightning-drone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318317/ntt-lightning-drone/"},"headline":"NTT Lightning Drone","datePublished":"2025-10-09T11:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:51.280Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318317/ntt-lightning-drone/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","Best Inventions 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940ad106336f9ca0/6998ca8a66d4e3307acbceaa/lightning-drone-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joe Mullich","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joe-mullich/"}],"creator":"Joe Mullich","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940ad106336f9ca0/6998ca8a66d4e3307acbceaa/lightning-drone-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318317/ntt-lightning-drone/","name":"NTT Lightning Drone"}}]}] ```