Garuda Selects Airbus Flexrotor to Expand its UAS Leasing Portfolio

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Airbus Helicopters and Garuda Technologies Inc. (Garuda) have signed a contract for the delivery of up to 18 Flexrotor Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS). Garuda will offer Flexrotor services to its customers through both dry and wet lease options for a broad spectrum of civil and parapublic missions including infrastructure (roads, railways, and oil and gas pipelines, power lines) inspection, law enforcement, search, 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 1 million flight hours, 30% 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."

“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,” he added. “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 Inc., is a Delaware-based wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Garuda Aerospace Limited. It is now expanding its operations on the North American market. Garuda’s UAS business will support critical missions across the energy, public services, agricultural, defence, and industrial sectors.

The versatile light tactical UAS Flexrotor 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 (55 lbs), it has been designed for ISTAR missions for more than 12-14 hours in a typical operational configuration. It can integrate different types of payloads including an electro-optical system and advanced sensors to suit customers’ 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.