The Navy executed the modification under an existing Other Transaction agreement. The government funding comes from the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment through its Defense Exportability Features program.
The latest funding follows a separate $50 million government commitment announced in August under the Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) effort. Shield AI independently committed $50 million in private capital alongside that action.
The earlier modification involved the Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Aviation Rapid Capability Cell and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). It was separate from the new $150 million modification to the same agreement.
Preparing for flight tests
X-BAT is scheduled to begin flight testing later this year. Across the broader program, 500 engineers at Shield AI and suppliers, including GE Aerospace, are building flight-test aircraft.
The team has completed engine light-off and integration of the thrust-vectoring nozzle. Shield AI said weapons bay aerodynamics have also been validated in low- and high-speed wind-tunnel tests.
“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. “That approach helps us identify and resolve issues earlier, reduce development risk and move more quickly toward flight testing.”
The low-observable, multirole aircraft is designed to take off and land vertically from ships, islands and austere sites. Shield AI’s Hivemind software serves as its AI pilot, enabling operations in GPS-denied and communications-constrained conditions.
Operating alongside naval aircraft
X-BAT is part of DIU’s RIMES project, an effort across industry to provide combatant commanders with runway-independent, long-range strike assets. The aim is to extend the reach of surface and expeditionary forces without relying on fixed airfields.
“X-BAT is being built to enhance the lethality, survivability and combat power of U.S. Naval Aviation,” said J.J. “Yank” Cummings, Shield AI’s head of mission solutions for the U.S. Navy. “Its runway-independent design and small deck footprint can increase sortie generation and extend long-range air combat power from CVNs, LHAs, LHDs and ESBs.”
Cummings, a TOPGUN graduate and former commanding officer of USS Gerald R. Ford, said the aircraft is being designed to fit into existing naval operations. “Just as important, we are designing it for safe, high-tempo manned-unmanned flight deck operations and integration with the missions and capabilities of the carrier air wing, so X-BAT can add combat power without compromising existing operations.”
