Defense technology company Shield AI has publicly revealed the XBAT, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter jet piloted entirely by artificial intelligence.
The announcement was made by Shield AI President and co-founder Brandon Sang, a former Navy SEAL, during a high-energy product event. Sang framed the unveiling as the culmination of a decade-long mission to protect service members and civilians by deploying cutting-edge AI and autonomy on the battlefield.
“The fundamental goal of XBAT is to present an asymmetric dilemma to our adversaries,” Sang stated, emphasizing the company’s core belief that “the greatest victory requires no war.”
A Solution to a Multi-Billion Dollar Problem
The XBAT is designed as a direct response to critical vulnerabilities in current air power. According to Armor Harris, Head of Shield AI’s Aircraft Business Unit and the lead designer of XBAT, modern stealth aircraft are highly survivable in the air but remain dangerously exposed on the ground.
“In our war games, we lose more aircraft on the ground than we lose in the skies,” Harris explained, citing recent conflicts where multi-million dollar aircraft have been destroyed by cheap drones or missile strikes on air bases.
XBAT shatters this paradigm through its expeditionary VTOL capability. It does not need long, vulnerable runways. Instead, it launches and lands from a mobile “Launch and Recovery Vehicle” that can be dispersed across a theater of operations, making it an elusive and unpredictable target. This design also allows it to operate from a wide range of ships, from helicopter carriers to cargo vessels, dramatically expanding potential basing options.
AI-Powered and Cost-Effective
What makes the XBAT possible is Shield AI’s core product: the Hivemind AI pilot. Harris highlighted that while a similar VTOL aircraft, the X-13, was tested in the 1950s, it was limited by human pilot limitations and weak engine technology. XBAT solves this with advanced autonomous control systems.
“This thing hauls and sips gas,” Harris quoted a Top Gun aviator, thanks to its powerful F-16-class engine and efficient, tailless design.
Key features of the XBAT include:
AI Pilot:Â Can operate in GPS and communications-denied environments, swarm collaboratively, and autonomously engage targets based on pre-set rules of engagement.
Multi-Role Capability:Â Functions as the “world’s first autonomous fighter jet,” capable of independently closing kill chains for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions using internal weapons bays and a suite of advanced sensors.
10x Lower Cost:Â Promises a life-cycle cost ten times lower than legacy 5th-generation fighters like the F-35.
Proven Tech on a Accelerated Path
Shield AI is not a newcomer to the field. Sang highlighted the company’s proven track record, including its Hivemind AI being used by Israeli counter-terrorism forces to rescue hostages and its successful operation of unmanned systems in Ukraine against Russian jamming.
The company has an aggressive development timeline, targeting first VTOL flights for the XBAT in 2026 and full mission capability by 2028.
With the unveiling of the XBAT, Shield AI has thrown down a gauntlet, signaling a future where agile, intelligent, and affordable autonomous systems could become the cornerstone of national defense, aiming to ensure that for any potential adversary, “today is not the day that I should start a war.”
