Shield AI says total commitments for AI-piloted X-BAT fighter reach $400M

Shield AI says the money keeps piling up behind X-BAT. On Wednesday, the company said the U.S. Navy executed a $150 million modification to an existing Other Transaction agreement, using funding from the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment’s Defense Exportability Features program. Shield AI is putting in another $150 million of its own capital alongside that government support.

That follows a separate $50 million funding action announced in August for X-BAT under the Navy’s Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike effort, with Shield AI adding $50 million privately to match it. Put together, the two public actions and the company’s own investments bring announced commitments to $400 million. For a defense program that is still building out hardware, that is a serious pile of faith.

The company says a team of 500 engineers and suppliers including GE Aerospace are working on flight-test aircraft. Shield AI says the program has already completed engine light-off and thrust-vectoring nozzle integration, and has validated weapons bay aerodynamics in both low- and high-speed wind-tunnel tests. The aircraft’s Hivemind software is meant to act as the pilot in GPS-denied and communications-constrained conditions.

X-BAT is scheduled to begin flight testing later this year. It is part of DIU’s RIMES Project, which is aimed at giving commanders long-range strike options that can take off and land vertically from ships, islands and austere sites instead of depending on fixed runways. Shield AI says the aircraft is designed to boost lethality, survivability and combat power for U.S. Naval Aviation, while fitting the deck rhythms of CVNs, LHAs, LHDs and ESBs.

Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft, said the company is testing early and often while building the aircraft, mission systems, ship suitability and production in parallel. J.J. “Yank” Cummings, who leads mission solutions for the U.S. Navy at Shield AI, said the small deck footprint could increase sortie generation and extend air combat power without disrupting carrier air wing operations. That is the pitch: more reach, less runway, and hopefully fewer surprises later.