Airgility Inc.’s leaders, founders, & execs aim to create class-leading autonomous systems, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), optionally manned systems, and other control-intuitive products. By developing these game-changing products that solve real-world problems, they have become one of the pioneers in aviation design and manufacturing.
Airgility Inc.’s Leaders, Founders, Execs: Who Are They?
Take a look at the key executives and founders of Airgility, Inc. right here.
Airgility, Inc. Founders
Airgility, Inc. traces its roots to the University of Maryland’s Design, Build, Fly Team, who had an idea to add a propulsion system to the forgotten Vought V-173 “Flying Pancake.” This idea blossomed into a full-blown mission to push the boundaries of innovation in the drone industry to address the ever-evolving defense aerospace markets.
Pramod Raheja, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Pramod Raheja is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Airgility. He cultivates the overall growth across the company’s operations in aviation and aerospace, bringing over three decades of industry experience. Hiss leadership centers around a customer-focused management approach to boost business development and revenue generation.
Mr. Raheja’s portfolio comprises demonstrated success for enterprises including the Intelligent Office, mystaffNOW, Inc., The Founder Institute, MicroStrategy, Community, Safer Healthcare, and Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Most significantly, he has been a Captain at United Airlines since January 1997, capable of flying Airbus A320 and Boeing 777 and 727.
Evandro Valente, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Evandro Valente is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at Airgility. He acts as the company’s inventor of intellectual property, leading the realization of its vision through technical development and product design. Mr. Valente works closely with the CEO to expand the business’ initiatives through his functions in innovation, design, testing, evaluation, and flight testing.
Encompassing more than 14 years in vehicle design and fabrication, Evandro Valente played a crucial role in completing technology projects at the University of Maryland, Maritime Applied Physics Corporation, and Belcan Engineering. On top of his current role at Airgility, he has joined The AIRO Group as the Chief Engineer and Product Innovation Lead since June 2023.
(Above Executive Photos from Airgility, Inc. Official Website)
Airgility, Inc. Advisors
Airglity’s founders work with advisors, helping them grow and further expand their products and systems. The advisors have a proven track record in defense and national security industries across the federal government and the commercial sector.
- Gregory McDonough, Chief Financial Officer
- Navin Ganeshan, Chief of Product, Gemini Data
- Darrin Auito, JD MBA, Strategic Technology Advisor
- David Bain, Serial Entrepreneur
- Jewel Barlow, PhD, World-Renowned Aerodynamicist and Vehicle Dynamics Expert
- Inderit Chopra, PhD, World-Renowned Rotor-Craft Expert
- Timothy K. Koriuchi, PhD, Bio-Inspired Systems SME
Airgility, Inc. Members
At the core of their mission to build autonomous systems to solve real-world problems are Airgility members. They are highly qualified professionals with skills in various engineering fields focusing on robotics design, innovation, and development.
- Zach Chase, Design and Integration Engineer
- Andrew Lent, Manufacturing and Flight Test Engineer
- Andre Luiz Gomes Ferreira, Robotics Engineer
- Dipam Patel, Robotics Software Engineer
- Niket Shah, Robotics Engineer
FAQs
What is Airgility, Inc.?
Logo from Airgility, Inc.
Airgility, Inc. is a leading designer and manufacturer of drones, autonomous systems, and unmanned aerial systems. Since its foundation in 2017, the company has envisioned increasing effectiveness by adapting and delivering strategic and tactical aerial products and solutions. This has anchored Airgility to come up with unique concepts to address real-world problems.
How does Airgility use artificial intelligence?
Autonomy is an integral part of Airgility’s capabilities for highly-capable systems. With the help of artificial intelligence, the company was able to develop products capable of:
- Flying indoors without GPS
- Conditional autonomy for sensing and navigation
- De-risked flight ops to decrease flight training
- Effective data gathering in flight operations
Autonomous solutions are an important player in pursuing technological advancements in the field. Airgility doubles down its investment in artificial intelligence to foster better autonomous flights in its products, including UAS and optionally manned systems.
What is the flagship product of Airgility?
Airgility, Inc. is the developer of the HorseSHU, a transitional VTOL aircraft. Positioned as the company’s flagship product, the aircraft’s thrust vectoring lifting body design is capable of moving and hovering at high speeds. Moreover, HorseSHU is able to take off and land vertically, allowing for more independent operations.
Is Airgility a government contractor?
Airgility is equipped with proficiency to help the federal government assert more autonomy in the aerospace landscape. Amid its young history, the company has sought collaboration with Air Force-focused agencies to expand the government and the company’s portfolio in aviation and defense.
The company’s established work and continued dedication translated into investments from various organizations, including the U.S. Air Force Labs’ MassChallenge and the National Science Foundation. These investments allowed Airgility to develop more efficient, versatile, autonomous, intuitive, and safe aerial systems.
Read on to know more about Airgility’s resolve to support federal defense missions through the development of aerial unmanned systems.