From soil to sky: How Garuda's war room is arming India for the drone wars of tomorrow

Time of India

21 hours ago

Operation Sindoor
didn't just showcase India's evolving drone capabilities. It also underscored a larger truth — that the very nature of warfare is changing. And in this new landscape, the future belongs to those who prepare, not those who scramble to catch up.
When the Indian Army rolled out drones during Operation Sindoor, it wasn't to dazzle with payloads or fly-by firepower. These were not big drones dropping bombs. Instead, they were smaller, smarter, tactical assets operating in silence: scouting routes, mapping terrain, ferrying supplies, and aiding search-and-rescue teams in unforgiving environments.
For years, India's defence drone playbook had been limited a mix of foreign imports and basic ISR systems used sparingly. However, Operation Sindoor signalled that India was finally waking up to the idea that drones weren't just sidekicks to traditional warfare. They were becoming central to how wars would be fought — and more importantly, won.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Undo
For
Garuda Aerospace
, that shift wasn't just a military moment. It was a validation of a slow-burning strategy that's been years in the making.
Founded in 2015 by Agnishwar Jayaprakash, a former Indian swimming captain and Harvard Business School graduate, Garuda began as an agri-tech startup. Its drones sprayed fertiliser, mapped villages, inspected infrastructure, and operated in the kinds of civilian spaces most defence players wouldn't even consider.
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'We always thought defence was for the big boys,' Jayaprakash told ET Online. 'We weren't ready for 300-day payment cycles or chasing massive procurement projects. So we built where the problems were immediate.'
The firm grew quietly, selling over 4,000 agri-drones and dominating nearly 40% of the domestic market. But over time, something changed.
'We started seeing gaps in the defence sector, parts no one else was touching,' he said. 'Landmine detection, logistics in conflict zones, drones that could carry supplies, detect movement, and even defuse threats.'
So Garuda pivoted.
Thinking small, acting big
At Aero India 2025, Garuda unveiled a range of indigenous defence drone systems:
Landmine detection
and diffusement drones
Rocket-launcher UAVs
Loitering munitions
Logistics and firefighting
UAVs
for the SDRF
Rescue drones, VR pilot simulators, and a Thales-backed air traffic management system for unmanned skies.
Each is part of a growing portfolio aimed not at replacing existing defence systems but complementing them. These aren't headline-grabbing billion-dollar platforms. They're precision tools for complex missions in terrain where human movement is slow or risky.
'We don't focus on areas where people are already big,' Jayaprakash said. 'We look at multi-role drones, ISR systems, and platforms that solve multiple problems, from
surveillance
to search-and-rescue.'
What sets Garuda apart is its conviction in being nimble. Unlike legacy firms, it isn't chasing size. It's building drones that switch roles mid-flight, that can sniff out a buried mine or carry medical kits across a hostile zone. They're investing in underwater and tethered drones. These aren't just prototypes. They're built for fieldwork.
The reality check: Preparedness over panic
India's awakening to the drone age hasn't been voluntary. It's been reactive.
Jayaprakash is frank about it: 'We weren't ready during the initial days of the conflict between India and Pakistan. Many of our drones were getting shot down. Their drones were backed by China, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and they had better endurance and payload capacity. We were up against a four-on-one attack.'
The lesson was hard-hitting. Surveillance drones weren't enough anymore. India needed kamikaze drones, swarm drones, tethered surveillance units, and UAVs that could operate inside urban combat zones and explode on command.
'Until now, we've relied either on high-end imports from countries like Israel, or on low-grade drones built to outdated specs,' he said. 'That has to change.'
Operation Sindoor is now being seen as a wake-up call across military planning circles — a moment where India was forced to acknowledge that the drone battlefield is real, and preparation must begin long before the first shot is fired.
Manufacturing: Made at home, by design
One of the biggest constraints to India's defence readiness has been dependence on foreign imports. Garuda is aggressively cutting that cord. Its Chennai facility — now expanded to 35,000 sq ft — manufactures seven drone subsystems and 33 parts in-house. That's about 80% of each drone built locally.
'To cut dependence on imports, we had to make things ourselves,' said Jayaprakash. 'Geopolitics changes overnight. We don't want to be stuck waiting.'
Their roadmap includes a new dedicated defence drone manufacturing unit outside Chennai with a capacity of 15,000 drones per year, aimed at fully integrating motors, batteries, sensors and communications subsystems. The effort is backed by the government's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and aligns with the national goal of becoming a drone hub by 2030.
And it's not just about machines. Garuda also opened India's first Agri-Drone Indigenisation Facility and launched 300 pilot training centres. A DGCA-approved Train-the-Trainer programme ensures there's talent ready to deploy not just hardware.
Partnerships that helped build
Recognising the steep technical demands of modern defence tech, Garuda has turned to strategic partnerships to amplify its capabilities.
Thales
brings in cutting-edge radar and UTM systems.
Tata Elxsi
contributes AI and autonomy for smart-city and combat applications. DRDO, HAL, HFCL, and REIL work on communication, surveillance and R&D. Meanwhile, collaborations with Cognizant, BEML, and international partners like SAS (Greece) have helped fast-track advanced products like rocket-launcher drones and landmine diffusers.
'These partnerships aren't about logos,' Jayaprakash explained. 'They're about reliability. We learn from them. We co-develop. And we ensure the final product is ready for Indian conditions.'
But even partnerships have their limits, while R&D in India remains hard, funding is tight, talent is mobile and attrition is high.
'We run a frugal ship. We can't always match salaries offered by the big players. So our best engineers often get poached,' he said. 'That's why partnerships are also our insurance as they keep the project alive even if people change.'
The defence drone economy: A new theatre of growth
As India wakes up to its strategic vulnerabilities, the defence drone sector is poised to become one of the most vital and volatile parts of the military industrial complex. Yet, the real opportunity may not lie in headline-grabbing billion-dollar contracts, but in the smaller, forgotten parts of warfare: ISR, logistics, detection, post-blast analysis, mine clearing, and disaster response.
That's exactly where Garuda wants to play. Quietly, precisely, and with products no one else wants to build.
'Defence is a tough game,' Jayaprakash admits. 'Specs change. Payments are delayed. Overnight someone underbids you. But we've stayed profitable because we chose our entry carefully.'
The numbers are starting to show it. Revenues have grown from ₹15 crore in FY22 to over ₹120 crore last year. A ₹100 crore Series B fundraise has pushed their valuation to $250 million. An IPO is in the works.
But the mission is far from over.
India's defence preparedness can no longer afford to lag behind. Whether it's drones that detect threats or ones that carry the fight forward, the need is no longer optional it's urgent.
Operation Sindoor proved one thing: wars of the future will be won not just with brute force, but with better sensors, faster decision-making, and assets that can be deployed in hours, not months.