San Francisco: Defense tech startup Shield AI unveiled a new fighter jet called the X-BAT — an autonomous vehicle powered by artificial intelligence that doesn’t require a runway or GPS to fly.
The company expects to start testing the new jet in 2026, it said Wednesday, and aims to have it ready to fly in military operations in 2028. The X-BAT will have a range of more than 2,000 nautical miles with a full payload and is expected to cost about $1 billion to become “operationally capable,” the company said.
The effort is part of a larger Silicon Valley push to make smarter, AI-powered tools for the US military and its allies. It’s the second hardware product from the 10-year-old startup Shield AI, one of the most prominent US defense startups, last valued at $5.3 billion. Shield AI’s other products include a drone called V-BAT and software to control autonomous aircraft called Hivemind.
The company stressed that the vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, capabilities of the X-BAT would make it more versatile in wartime contests. “This breaks dependence from runways,” said Shield AI President and co-founder Ryan Tseng, because it lets warfighters launch operations from virtually anywhere.
Tseng said Shield AI doesn’t have contracts in place with customers for the X-BAT, but said the company has had many conversations with people within the defense community about the need for such an aircraft. Shield AI is among dozens of startups spending billions in venture capital developing advanced military hardware without a guarantee from the US government that the military will buy it.
Shield AI has spent the past 18 months developing the X-BAT. It will be controlled by the company’s Hivemind software, and is designed to function autonomously as either a drone wingman or as a standalone fighter jet.
(Reporting by Lizette Chapman)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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