On January 3, 2018, AeroVironment announced it would design and develop a solar-powered, high-altitude, unmanned aircraft and associated ground control stations for a joint venture with Japanese telco SoftBank (95%) for $65 million.

[1] In November 2018, the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB in California was selected to provide ground and range safety for the project up to 10,000 ft for $791,600.

[3] The same day, SoftBank invested $125 million in Loon, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, that developed high-altitude balloons for internet connectivity between 2011 and 2021.

[2] Built in Simi Valley, California, the HAWK30 made its first flight and was tested at the Spaceport America in New Mexico instead, as the local Economic Development Department provided $500,000 in subsidies.

It should be interoperable with terrestrial cell towers to expand their coverage and as a proxy for the SoftBank-backed OneWeb satellite constellation, when it is not suited for providing links directly to devices.