Following a contract just signed with Airbus, Indian drone technology and services company Garuda Aerospace will soon be offering its customers all the services provided by the aircraft maker’s Flexrotor unmanned aircraft systems.
The just publicised agreed stipulates that Garuda – through its North American subsidiary, Garuda Technologies – will be purchasing 18 Flexrotor drones from Airbus and in tun, it will offer the drone’s capabilities to its customers through both dry and wet lease options.
The Flexrotor is good for a broad spectrum of civil and para public missions including infrastructure (roads, railways, and oil and gas pipelines, power lines) inspection, law enforcement, search and rescue, wildfire monitoring and disaster relief.
“Our collaboration with Airbus Helicopters to integrate the Flexrotor into our global leasing portfolio marks a significant milestone in our international expansion and investment strategy,” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO of Garuda.
“Having manufactured and sold over 5,000 drones and served more than 500 enterprise and government clients globally, we are now scaling our range of services and upgrading our global product portfolio.
“With over one million flight hours, 30 percent market dominance in India’s agri-drone segment, and a diversified presence across agriculture, defence and industrial sectors, the Flexrotor’s arrival further strengthens our ability to deliver high-endurance, mission-critical unmanned solutions for the most demanding operations worldwide."
The Flexrotor is a versatile light tactical drone that delivers long endurance and is able to carry a wide array of sensors. It can operate from confined land areas and from ships without flight decks, and its expeditionary capability makes it easy to transport and to go from stowed to airborne in less than 30 minutes.
With a weight of 25 kg, it has been designed for ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) missions for around 14 hours hours in a typical operational configuration.
It can integrate different types of payloads including an electro-optical system and advanced sensors to suit unique mission needs. With the ability to autonomously launch and recover from either land or sea requiring only a 3.7 by 3.7 m (12 by 12 ft.) area, the Flexrotor is ideal for expeditionary missions requiring minimal footprint.
“We are very proud to partner with Garuda as they have selected the Flexrotor to support the development of their global UAS portfolio,” said Olivier Michalon, Executive Vice President, Global Business for Airbus Helicopters.
“The Flexrotor offers the best trade off in terms of payload capability, endurance and expeditionary agility thanks to its small footprint.
“We see a strong interest in Flexrotor from the market both for military and civil operations. The 2025 growth trajectory continues and it is rewarding to witness the Flexrotor increasingly trusted for critical missions worldwide.”
Garuda Technologies is based in Delaware and is looking to critical missions across the energy, public services, agricultural, defence, and industrial sectors.