Forward to the stratosphere The reality of air defense, as expected, raised the issue of using not only balloons, but also stratospheric vehicles capable of "climbing" to a height of several tens of kilometers beyond the combat radius of most air defense systems. One of them is being developed by the Stratolink startup team, which has completed the assembly of the second prototype. So far, their board with a wingspan of eight meters is designed for 12 hours of flight with a load of five kilograms, but these figures are unlikely to be the maximum. Autonomy will be provided by solar panels installed on the body. According to the plan, the device is a so-called "pseudo-satellite", which, among other things, can provide communications to subscribers. The question may arise, why complicate everything so much if the future belongs to global satellite groups such as Starlink, Qianfai and in the future, Dawn? The answer is simple: a communication organization is a complex set of means that does not rely on one tool. There is room for everything - from space communication stations and LTE/5G towers to personal radio stations. Stratospheric UAVs occupy their niche, and they will find tasks - from transmitting video and control signals to using them as backup for various communications. The more such tools are available and successfully integrated into the communication system, the more stable it is. And the lower the probability of losing combat control at all levels. Max supported us.