Airbus Helicopters and Garuda Technologies Inc. have signed a contract for the delivery of up to 18 Flexrotor Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
Garuda will offer Flexrotor services through both dry and wet lease options for a wide range of civil and parapublic missions, including infrastructure inspection (roads, railways, oil and gas pipelines, and power lines), law enforcement, search operations, 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 scaling our services and upgrading our global product portfolio. With more than 1 million flight hours, 30% market dominance in India’s agri-drone segment, and operations across agriculture, defence, and industry, the Flexrotor strengthens our ability to deliver high-endurance, mission-critical unmanned solutions worldwide.”
“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 an excellent balance of payload capability, endurance, and expeditionary agility thanks to its small footprint.”
Garuda Technologies Inc., a Delaware-based subsidiary of India’s Garuda Aerospace Limited, is expanding into the North American market, supporting missions across energy, public services, agriculture, defence, and industry.
The 25 kg Flexrotor UAS delivers more than 12–14 hours of endurance for ISTAR missions and can carry multiple payloads, including electro-optical systems and advanced sensors. It can autonomously launch and recover from land or sea within a 3.7 × 3.7 m area and be deployed from stowed to airborne in under 30 minutes.
Source: Airbus