Shield AI's X-BAT combat drone nears full-scale prototype as Navy funding hits $200M
Shield AI expects its first full-scale X-BAT prototype within weeks, with flight testing planned for the end of this year. The U.S. Navy has committed an additional $150 million on top of an initial $50 million, bringing external funding to $200 million under a milestone-linked development agreement that Shield AI must match with its own spending. The tail-sitting, vertical-takeoff aircraft pairs a General Electric F110 engine with an axisymmetric vectoring exhaust, and Shield AI projects a 2,000-nautical-mile range, a 50,000-foot ceiling and a combat radius of roughly 1,000–1,340 nautical miles — about twice that of the F-35 — though vertical flight has not yet been demonstrated.
If the vertical-flight and range targets survive testing, runway-independent combat drones could change how navies operate from amphibious ships and dispersed land sites.