Scientists and engineers at the Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) successfully triggered a lightning strike using a drone. To do this, the team designed a lightning-resistant cage to house the drone and used conductive wires and high voltage switches to trigger a lightning strike near the drone at will. According to NTT, lightning causes up to 200 billion yen ($1.4 billion) damage a year, so using these lightning drones could go a long way towards protecting sensitive equipment and population centers during severe weather events. Related Story How Laser Lightning Rods Could Save Our BuildingsThe second—and arguably more complicated—problem was instigating the lightning strike in the first place, as a small drone wouldn’t be nearly enough to trigger a lightning strike. “Future efforts will focus on developing technologies for capturing and storing lightning energy for potential use.”Now all we need is a flux capacitor.