One of the most interesting drones displayed at the Aero India 2025 in Bengaluru is CargoMax 20KHC, one of India’s heaviest cargo drones launched by Bengaluru-based startup Scandron, which specialises in cargo drones. This company is aiming to target defence and paramilitary forces in the country with this drone and has set up its manufacturing facility in Ladakh to be close to its defence customers. The company is terming it to be India’s most powerful cargo drone with 200 kg payload capability.
“The CargoMax 20KHC is designed to provide the Indian armed forces with a stable and robust reliable aerial logistics platform for last mile deliveries. The CargoMax 20KHC is a fully autonomous aerial logistics platform that offers pilotless operations, an operational range of 15km and an operational ceiling of 6,000 metres above sea level. All our CargoMax drones have variants that enable them to offer superior logistics capability, whether it is for high-altitude operations, desert operations or naval operations,” explained Arjun Naik, founder and CEO of Scandron.
This logistics drone is designed for autonomous operations in various environments and verticals. It shares a common command and control architecture and has significant layers of redundancy built in to ensure stable, safe and reliable operations. It can be used for high-altitude logistics for the Indian Army for last-mile deliveries at altitudes greater than 5,500 metres above sea level.
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CargoMax 20KHC drone can also be used for naval Island operations as it is capable of pinpoint landings on moving platforms, making it suitable for naval supply operations. Besides, it can be useful in supply chain logistics for optimising mid-mile logistics and warehouse-to-warehouse operations. This drone can be very helpful in NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) applications such as heavy lifting emergency and relief supplies in impacted areas.
“We wanted to have the manufacturing facility in Ladakh as we want to be closer to the defence customers. Also, the 200kg capacity drone will face challenges in being transported to the customer from a single manufacturing facility in Bengaluru, so it is better to be close to our customers. This heavy-weight drone, in a single charge, can run for 30 minutes. All the trial runs are complete and we are ready to manufacture.
We are actively in discussions with the defence and paramilitary forces to supply our logistic drones. We have completely developed this in India and do not procure products from anywhere abroad,” added Naik.
This Bengaluru-based start-up is a subsidiary of Magellanic Cloud Limited and specialises in drone manufacturing. It is also India's first OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to receive DGCA type certification for a logistics drones. The company specialises in heavy-lift logistics drones from (5–200 kg), surveillance drones, agri-spraying drones, and custom UAVs.
Operating across drone manufacturing and drone as a service (DaaS), the Scandron drones are being used by the Indian armed forces, oil and gas, and power generation sectors with advanced inspection and monitoring solutions. The company has invested in R&D to develop self-reliant drone technologies.
