Behind the Scenes: Testing a Sub-scale Model Aircraft to Develop a Next-generation Uncrewed Aircraft System for HAPS

SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) and its subsidiary HAPSMobile recently announced they collected crucial data for the development of a next-generation “Sunglider,” an uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) designed for High Altitude Platform System (HAPS) stratospheric telecommunications, after conducting a flight test of a sub-scale model in Arizona, USA.

The new development comes after HAPSMobile’s milestone stratospheric flight test conducted with Sunglider in September 2020. But why build and test a sub-scale model aircraft? And what’s the relationship between a sub-scale model aircraft and a full-scale aircraft? Go behind the scenes and learn more about SoftBank’s HAPS R&D initiatives in this in-depth article.