SOURCE Pyka

Pyka takes follow-on order of Pelican 2 aircraft from SLC Agrícola to scale operations across multiple farms

ALAMEDA, Calif., Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Pyka, a leading robotics company building commercially proven autonomous aircraft, today announced a follow-on order from SLC Agrícola, one of Brazil's largest and most innovative agricultural producers, for an undisclosed number of Pelican 2 aircraft to scale operations across multiple farms.

This new order, with deliveries timed for the upcoming growing season, follows a successful season in which SLC Agrícola deployed Pyka's Pelican 2 aircraft at one of its largest farming operations in Brazil. The aircraft demonstrated gains in operational efficiency, spray quality, and reliability for large-scale aerial application.

"Our partnership with Pyka has exceeded expectations," said Ronei Sandri Sana, Digital Agriculture Manager at SLC Agrícola. "Pelican 2 proved its ability to deliver reliable crop protection on a nightly basis in demanding field conditions. Based on the results we've seen this season, we are expanding our fleet to continue driving innovation and productivity across our operations."

During the operation, SLC Agrícola and Pyka conducted extensive spray testing in collaboration with AgroEfetiva, an independent research and consulting firm specializing in pesticide application technology.

"Pelican delivers the performance of a large aircraft with the ease of use of a much smaller and autonomous system," said Dr. Fernando Kassis Carvalho, Researcher at AgroEfetiva. "It flies fast and stable, matches the spray quality of conventional aircraft, works in wet conditions where ground systems cannot, and can even target pests with nocturnal habits, by spraying at night."

With its 300-liter payload, fully autonomous flight capability, and work rate of up to 100 hectares per hour, Pelican 2 is the largest autonomous agricultural aircraft in the world and the only autonomous aircraft of its kind authorized for commercial operation at this scale.

"The follow-on order from SLC Agrícola is a major validation of Pelican 2 in the field," said Michael Norcia, Co-Founder and CEO at Pyka. "It shows that autonomous electric aviation can deliver real-world impact at the scale of some of the largest growers in the world. We're proud to continue building on this partnership to advance sustainable agriculture."

The expanded agreement strengthens Pyka's presence in Brazil, one of the world's most important agricultural markets, and underscores the role of autonomous aircraft in shaping the future of large-scale farming.

About Pyka:

Pyka is a robotics company on a mission to build the most useful autonomous aircraft on Earth. At the core of every Pyka aircraft is a vertically integrated aircraft-first robotics stack: proprietary flight control software, avionics, high-power density electric motors, motor controllers, batteries, and carbon fiber composite airframes, developed entirely in-house and manufactured in the USA.

About SLC Agrícola:

SLC Agrícola, founded in 1977 by the SLC Group, produces cotton, soybean and corn, in addition to working with cattle raising, integrating crop-livestock. It also owns SLC Sementes brand, which produces and sells soybean and cotton and seeds. It was one of the first companies in the sector with shares traded on the Stock Exchanges, becoming a benchmark in its segment. Headquartered in Porto Alegre (RS), the Company has 26 Production Units strategically located in seven Brazilian states. In the 2025/2026 crop year, the planted area totaled around 836 thousand hectares.

About AgroEfetiva:

AgroEfetiva is a research, training and consulting company in application technology and good agricultural practices. Our mission is to develop solutions and share knowledge for the Crop Protection sector. Our research follows good laboratory practices to provide our clients with a high level of quality and safety in the results obtained. We have a team of researchers and one of the best application technology laboratories in the world.

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