Shield AI's X-BAT is a runway-independent, tail-sitting VTOL autonomous combat jet flown by the company's Hivemind AI pilot — a claimed 3,700+ km range from a trailer launcher, no runway required, with first flight planned for late 2026 and a production pitch to Poland.
A CBS News report from Kyiv details how Shield AI's V-BAT reconnaissance drone finds targets for the Ukrainian strike campaign that has hit dozens of Russian tankers and left Crimea rationing fuel.
Shield AI's ducted-fan VTOL tail-sitter – a runway-independent ISR and targeting drone that proved it can operate deep inside Russian electronic warfare and cue precision fires for Ukrainian forces.
Shield AI says one AI flew a V-BAT and Destinus Hornet drones as a single team in Oklahoma, a milestone arriving days after a Reuters investigation into V-BAT crashes and a whistleblower's claims about its autonomy.
The order expands a drone Greece already uses to watch its Aegean islands, and brings Shield AI's Hivemind autonomy business to Athens.