Drone as a Service (DaaS) company Garuda Aerospace has signed up with Israel's defence systems major Elbit Systems to develop Skylark 3 drones for land mapping and other services, said a top official of Garuda Aerospace.

"We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Elbit Systems to initially develop two Skylark 3 drones to be deployed of large-scale surveying and mapping of villages under the Indian Government's Swamitva Scheme," Agnishwar Jayaprakash, founder, told CEO of Garuda Aerospace.

The MoU was signed at the Defence Expo 2022.

"Our contract under the Swamitva Scheme has been extended now. The contract value now is about Rs 150 crore. With Skylark 3 drones that can fly for 8-9 hours a day, we can complete the survey project early," Jayaprakash added.

According to him, the drones will be developed jointly by Garuda Aerospace and Elbit Systems and the MoU is valid for three years.

Skylark 3 drones will be mainly utilised for Survey of India projects to implement large-scale surveying and mapping of villages under the Swamitva Scheme.

Garuda Aerospace has already been the most successful firm with Swamitva projects having recently completed mapping of over 7,000 villages in just one year for the government.

These high end drones will be equipped with advanced sensors which can be utilised for large-scale mining projects for steel plants, coal mines and others.

Drone Shakti projects - use of drones in agriculture activities - will also be areas of joint development for technology and execution.

The companies will also design, build and customise unmanned aerial vehicles for various applications across this promising and diverse sector.

Ziv Timor, Senior Director, Elbit UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) Business Unit said: "We are excited to partner with Garuda Aerospace to provide a variety of civilian services using advanced UAS (unmanned aerial system) and sensor technology. We believe that together, Elbit and Garuda can respond effectively to India's growing requirements for civilian UAVs usage."