The agreement will see Hivemind installed on Destinus’ Ruta and Hornet unmanned aerial systems, alongside Shield AI’s V-BAT. The firms stated that these platforms will be able to share information, coordinate behaviours and adjust to in-flight target updates, forming a closely connected reconnaissance-strike capability.
Joint flight demonstrations are scheduled for 2026 to verify operational interoperability across systems from both companies. Nathan Michael, Shield AI Chief Technology Officer and Head of the Hivemind Business Unit, said: “Integrating Hivemind across diverse aircraft architectures like Ruta, Hornet, and V-BAT demonstrates how a unified autonomy framework can enable distributed mission execution.”
He added: “By allowing platforms to perceive, decide, and act together in real time, Hivemind delivers scalable autonomy that enhances coordination, survivability, and mission success across the battlespace.” Destinus CEO Mikhail Kokorich said: “For Europe to achieve true technological sovereignty, we must unite world-class AI autonomy with industrial scale.”
Kokorich stated that the partnership will reinforce this aim by joining Destinus’ platforms and AI avionics with Shield AI’s software. “This partnership strengthens that effort by pairing Destinus’ platforms and AI avionics with Shield AI’s combat-proven mission autonomy. With Destinus platforms, we are engineering the backbone of a distributed, intelligent, and resilient autonomous strike architecture for Europe and for Ukraine,” he said.
Shield AI describes Hivemind as a modular and platform-agnostic autonomy system designed for heterogeneous teaming across aircraft. The software enables reconnaissance and strike assets to work as a coordinated team, while maintaining clear command frameworks that support human decision-makers rather than replacing them.
