US defense technology company Shield AI said it and partner Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) have delivered the first V-BAT vertical-takeoff-and-landing surveillance drone to Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration (CGA), with the remaining units of a 12-drone order expected over the coming months. V-BAT won the coast guard's shipborne drone tender in July 2026, and the first aircraft was shown at Taipei Port on October 7 to CGA officials, with Shield AI engineers demonstrating setup in minutes. The Group 3 unmanned system uses a ducted-fan design and heavy-fuel engine, flies for more than 12 hours and is built for contested electromagnetic environments, taking off and landing from ship decks without a runway for maritime domain awareness, surveillance, patrol and law-enforcement missions. Shield AI will train CGA operators and maintainers and build local support with AIDC. President Brandon Tseng said V-BAT has flown for the US Coast Guard and helped intercept more than 100,000 pounds of drugs last year, and that extending that capability to Taiwan supports Taiwan Strait security; those performance claims come from the company.

Shield AI·V-BAT·Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC)·+3