Loading…
Tata Elxsi and Sarla Aviation signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Bengaluru on 1 September 2026 to develop Shunya, an indigenous eVTOL aircraft.
Shunya is planned as a seven-seater — six passengers and one pilot — with an operational range of more than 300 kilometres.
Its design pairs vertical take-off and landing with fixed-wing cruise efficiency, allowing runway-independent operations.
Sarla Aviation leads the design, development and type certification; Tata Elxsi provides avionics, flight control, software integration, testing and validation support.
Sarla Aviation received Design Organisation Approval from the DGCA on 8 August 2026, and the first flight is targeted in 18 to 24 months.
An eVTOL uses electric propulsion to lift off and land vertically, like a helicopter, without needing a runway. The category sits at the centre of 'advanced air mobility' — short-range urban and regional passenger and cargo flight. Shunya uses a hybrid configuration that many eVTOL designs converge on: rotors for vertical lift at take-off and landing, and a fixed wing for the cruise phase. That matters because rotor-borne flight is energy-hungry while a wing generates lift efficiently once the aircraft is moving forward, so the wing is what turns a short hop into a 300-kilometre range on battery power.
Simple Analogy: It takes off like a drone and then flies like a small aeroplane — vertical lift for the hard part, wings for the long part.
General Awareness > Science and Technology in News
General Awareness > Science and Technology
General Awareness > Business and Technology News
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Indigenisation and new technology
Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft — an electrically propelled aircraft that takes off and lands vertically, without a runway.
The emerging sector covering short-range urban and regional air transport of passengers and cargo using new aircraft types.
The formal regulatory approval of an aircraft DESIGN under aviation safety rules, distinct from the certification of an individual aircraft.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India's civil aviation regulator.