European military forces face a critical need for next-generation air combat systems capable of operating effectively as part of a Combat Cloud in highly contested theatres of operation. To date, current manned and unmanned aerial systems face significant limitations in autonomy, adaptability, and interoperability, especially in collaborative networked operations.
These challenges are accentuated by the need for air systems that can effortlessly integrate with both existing and future 6th generation of fighter jets, while remaining flexible enough to support a wide range of evolving mission requirements. Project GARUDA seeks to address the urgent need for a unified vision on adaptable and scalable U-CCA systems, fully aligned with the strategic objectives of the European Defence Fund and its associated member states. Through innovative design processes, the system will be conceived to be highly flexible, addressing the operational challenges of complex contested environments, including Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) scenarios.
OFFICE NATIONAL D'ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES AEROSPATIALES
[ ONERA ]
France
Baptiste AGEZ
GRAFREN AB
[ GRAFREN ]
Sweden
Erik Khranovskyy
PRVNI BRNENSKA STROJIRNA VELKA BITES AS
[ PBS ]
Czech Republic
Tomas Pardek
XYSENSING SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA
[ XY-Sensing ]
Poland
Piotr Samczynski
GLOBAL DESIGN TECHNOLOGY BE
[ GDTech ]
Belgium
Michael Bruyneel
DATA MACHINE INTELLIGENCE SOLUTIONS GMBH
[ DMI ]
Germany
Matthias Stock
PIDSO - PROPAGATION IDEAS & SOLUTIONS GmbH
[ PIDSO ]
Austria
Christoph Kienmayer
CYBERNETICA AS
[ CYBER ]
Estonia
Kairi Käiro
Funded by the European Union
2026-02-09
The GARUDA project kicked-off on the 13th of November, 2025, in the premises of the iconic Hangar Y, in Meudon (France)....
View more2025-12-01
The GARUDA project, short for reconfiGurable Autonomous collaboRative UnmanneD Aircraft, has officially started under the...
View moreGARUDA Project Factsheet