The sorties served dual purposes, supporting both operator training and live operational missions to strengthen frontline readiness ahead of Ukraine’s spring campaign. Shield AI’s team—comprising engineers, technical specialists, and mission operations personnel—has been working on-site in Kyiv to support integration and accelerate local capabilities.
Ukrainian military veterans have also joined Shield AI’s operations to assist the mission, with a group of operators scheduled to travel to Texas later this month for advanced training. The collaboration aims to deepen system familiarity and enhance performance in contested environments.
According to the USF, the V-BAT UAV has proven its effectiveness due to its ability to function without GPS or communications. Its precision targeting capabilities have provided a “decisive advantage over other UAVs in the region,” they stated.
Ukrainian operators highlighted the quality and impact of the training provided by Shield AI’s personnel. This hands-on support is viewed as essential to sustaining operational readiness in the face of ongoing threats.
“The war in Ukraine is the front line of modern warfare. For defence companies, legitimacy is no longer earned in labs, test ranges, or exercises. It is earned on the battlefield,” said James Lythgoe, Shield AI’s Ukraine managing director and a former U.K. Royal Marine. “Shield AI’s operational presence and focus on real-world problems have allowed us to build systems that perform where it matters most.”
“V-BAT, powered by our Hivemind autonomy stack, remains the only long-endurance ISR and strike platform to penetrate both Ukrainian and Russian GPS and comms jammers. We’re proud to support the USF in this fight,” Lythgoe added.
The V-BAT is a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV designed for endurance, survivability, and precision in GPS- and communications-denied environments. It is powered by Shield AI’s Hivemind software and is capable of long-range intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and strike operations.
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, the world’s first dedicated military branch of its kind, deploy a range of unmanned aerial, ground, and marine systems. Their strategic and battlefield operations aim to protect Ukrainian territory and reduce the enemy’s offensive capabilities through advanced and asymmetric warfare methods.
