The US Navy has executed a $150 million modification to its Other Transaction agreement with Shield AI to advance X-BAT, an AI-piloted vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter, according to Shield AI. The company announced the move on 8 October 2026.
Funding and investment
The Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment provided the money through its Defense Exportability Features program. Shield AI will match the government’s contribution with $150 million of its own capital.
The award follows a separate $50 million action announced in August. The Department of the Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive (Aviation) Rapid Capability Cell and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) funded that modification under the Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) effort. Shield AI committed $50 million of private capital alongside it. Together, the two actions bring announced public and private commitments to X-BAT to $400 million.
Development progress
A team of 500 engineers at Shield AI and key suppliers, including GE Aerospace, is building the flight-test aircraft. The team has completed engine light-off and thrust-vectoring nozzle integration. It has also validated weapons bay aerodynamics in low- and high-speed wind-tunnel tests.
Shield AI’s Hivemind software acts as the aircraft’s AI pilot. It allows operations in GPS-denied and communications-constrained conditions. Flight testing is scheduled to begin later this year.
“We are testing early and often while working on the aircraft, mission systems, ship suitability and production in parallel,” said Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft.
Role in RIMES
X-BAT forms part of the DIU’s RIMES Project. The industry-wide effort aims to give Combatant Commanders long-range strike assets that can launch and land vertically from ships, islands and austere sites without fixed runways. The low-observable, multirole aircraft is designed to meet that requirement.
J.J. “Yank” Cummings, Shield AI’s head of mission solutions for the US Navy, said the design should boost the lethality, survivability and combat power of naval aviation. A TOPGUN graduate, he previously commanded the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
Cummings said X-BAT’s small deck footprint could increase sortie generation from CVNs, LHAs, LHDs and ESBs. He added that Shield AI is designing the aircraft for high-tempo manned-unmanned flight deck operations and integration with the carrier air wing.
Learn more on Shield AI’s website
