Shield AI's Hivemind flies its first live electronic warfare test on an L3Harris drone
A US Army-supported flight on July 16 put autonomous spectrum warfare in the air for the first time, pairing a prime's jamming stack with the AI pilot slated to fly the X-BAT fighter.
A US Army-supported flight on July 16 put autonomous spectrum warfare in the air for the first time, pairing a prime's jamming stack with the AI pilot slated to fly the X-BAT fighter.
Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy software flew an electronic warfare mission off live threat data for the first time on July 16, commanding an L3Harris Green Wolf drone in a US Army-supported test, L3Harris announced. Unmanned aircraft on a live range detected, analyzed and responded to electromagnetic threats without human intervention, the first flight of the paired system after a hardware-in-the-loop simulation in February.
The scenario put Deceptor, L3Harris's compact software-defined electronic attack and detection payload, on multiple drones. One aircraft sensed and characterized unknown emitters, pushed the data into DiSCO, the company's spectrum battle management network, and Hivemind rerouted follow-on aircraft through a safe operating zone in real time, Defence Industry Europe wrote. L3Harris also framed the flight as validation of Green Wolf as a multi-mission launched-effects platform for distributed electronic warfare. "This flight test proved Hivemind can compress the sensor-to-decision cycle in real time," said Christian Gutierrez, senior vice president for Hivemind at Shield AI.
The teaming covers a gap on each side. L3Harris owns the jammers and the spectrum picture but not the AI pilot; Shield AI owns the pilot but not the electronic warfare hardware. Gutierrez said the pairing "produced something neither system could deliver alone." For the San Diego firm, the flight also feeds its bigger airframe bet. Hivemind is the autonomy stack for X-BAT, the vertical-takeoff fighter Shield AI wants flying this year, a jet the company pitches for air-to-air, strike and electronic warfare missions. Shield AI published X-BAT test footage the same day covering propulsion, radar-signature and launch-system work, Army Recognition noted, with mission capability targeted for 2028 and production in 2029.
The battlefield and the startup story — free in your inbox every week. No paywall.
Subscribe Free →Both companies said they will widen the system's mission set through an open architecture for electronic warfare at the tactical edge. The nearer marker is X-BAT's first vertical flight, still planned before the end of 2026, and whether a software-defined jammer rides along.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did L3Harris and Shield AI test?
The first flight of L3Harris's DiSCO electromagnetic battle management ecosystem paired with Shield AI's Hivemind mission-autonomy software, flown on an L3Harris Green Wolf drone in a US Army-supported test on July 16, per L3Harris.
What happened during the flight?
Drones carrying the Deceptor electronic warfare payload detected and characterized unknown electromagnetic threats, shared the data through DiSCO, and Hivemind autonomously rerouted follow-on aircraft through a safe operating zone without human input, the companies said.
What is Green Wolf?
An L3Harris launched-effects unmanned aircraft that carried both electronic attack and advanced detection in the test. L3Harris said the flight further validated it as a multi-mission platform for distributed electronic warfare.
Had the system been tested before?
Yes, in a hardware-in-the-loop simulation in February 2026, announced on March 11. The July 16 event moved the DiSCO-Hivemind pairing from simulation to a live flight range, per L3Harris and Military Embedded Systems.
What does this have to do with X-BAT?
Hivemind is the AI pilot for Shield AI's X-BAT vertical-takeoff fighter, which the company pitches for air-to-air, strike and electronic warfare missions. Shield AI released X-BAT test footage on July 16, with first vertical flights planned for 2026 and mission capability targeted for 2028, per Army Recognition.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.