Shield AI, a San Diego-based defense technology company, is assuring European militaries that its autonomy software carries no US kill switch.
European governments are racing to build homegrown defense technology as doubts grow over US commitment to NATO.
“This is one of the challenges that we have as a US-based company that’s relatively young, building relationships across the globe, specifically in Europe,” said Gary Steele, CEO of Shield AI.
“We can build the confidence that there is no US kill switch,” he said. “We show the whole tool chain so that we can get people comfortable with the way in which we operate, that we don’t have any hooks that would enable some kill switch.”
Shield AI hands each customer a base platform as a software development kit, which it extends to whatever aircraft and sensors it wants to fly. Steele said the code each country builds for its own drones and aircraft stays unique to that country.
Asked how customers can be sure of full independence, he said Shield AI’s systems are almost always disconnected, with no link to a broader network or the internet, so they operate on their own.
“We’ve been very active in working across Europe and Asia, helping organizations see the power of what sovereign AI (artificial intelligence) can look like, where you can deliver a physical AI capability, but it’s unique to that country and unique to those capabilities,” he said.
“We found this balance of a core platform that accelerates the journey in autonomy, coupled with the unique capability that comes from work that’s done in the country.”
Shield AI was founded in 2015 and builds Hivemind, autonomy software that pilots aircraft without global positioning system (GPS) signals or communications, as well as the V-BAT drone and the X-BAT fighter jet. It has raised $3.6 billion to date.
Built for jammed skies
Steele spoke at Bloomberg Tech London, a conference organized by Bloomberg in London on November 3. Tom Giles, senior executive editor for global technology at Bloomberg, interviewed him in a session on AI and the new balance of military power.
Shield AI has worked on the ground in Ukraine for about two and a half years, with roughly 30 employees supporting its forces. The V-BAT, a Group 3 drone, is used mainly for surveillance and targeting.
“We typically assume that we will have no communications, no GPS, and we have to fly and provide targeting for Ukrainians for high-value Russian targets without the benefit of having communications,” Steele said. “When the Starlink event happened, it did not have any impact on us, because we assume we’re not going to have comms.”
On October 14, Ukraine said a speed cap of about 100 miles per hour had hit military Starlink and Starshield terminals overnight, forcing some drone missions to be canceled. Ukrainian officials said they received no prior notice.
Steele said many of the drones Ukraine flies expect some form of communication through Starlink, so the restriction had a significant impact. Shield AI had engineered around that dependency because it assumes it is always jammed. He said that ability has been very impactful for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
The session also gave the first public look at footage of the full-size X-BAT, an autonomous fighter jet that he said matches the capacity of the manned F-35.
“Essentially what you have is the capabilities of an equivalent manned system, but in something that’s fully autonomous,” he said. “You don’t need an aircraft carrier. Think about a trailer that then tilts up, and the plane takes off.”
X-BAT takes off and lands vertically from ships or land, using a launch-and-recovery vehicle that works like a large trailer pulled behind a semi-truck. Built with GE Aerospace, it runs on GE’s F110 engine.
He said X-BAT serves Shield AI’s mission of saving the lives of service members and civilians with autonomous systems.
First flight tests are due in Kansas within the next couple of months, with production targeted for 2029 or 2030. Shield AI funded X-BAT’s early development with private capital before the US Navy committed $200 million, which the company has matched.
“It was a very important endorsement for us to have engagement directly with the Department of War in the US. And with that, it opens the doors for international opportunities where we can bring these capabilities to our international partners,” Steele said.
He said it is still early on the international front, but he expects Shield AI to make some announcements over the next six months.
Behind in mass
Bloomberg Intelligence data shows Russia and China developing drones much faster than the US.
Steele said lessons from Ukraine and Iran have built a belief that warfare is moving toward an autonomous, uncrewed, high-mass world, and the Department of War now runs programs focused on that shift. The US is still catching up on mass production, but a flood of private capital is speeding it up.
“I don’t think we’re behind. We may be behind in mass, but not in capability. I look at what we just witnessed with X-BAT. Those are the kinds of capabilities that put us out in front,” he said.
“Unlike those other countries, this capital ultimately will drive the best innovation, the best ideas, the best velocity at solving that problem. I think [catching up] happens over the next couple of years. I don’t think this is a long-term issue.”
As concerns over AI safety grow, Steele said every system Shield AI builds supports a human in the loop, at the request of the militaries it serves. A human makes the final decision on whether to fire on a target.
Shield AI’s software must pass flight-assurance checks and takes a deterministic approach to safety.
A US defense budget awaiting approval would put tens of billions of dollars into autonomy. He said Shield AI could ride out a period of continuing resolutions, which keep government funding at existing levels.
More than half of Shield AI’s revenue now comes from outside the US, with growth in three regions:
Ukraine’s allies, which are buying after watching its results on the battlefield
Asia, including Taiwan, where tensions are high and spending continues
The Middle East, where Shield AI has become engaged as the situation with Iran has shifted
“Unfortunately, we live in a world where there’s lots of conflict, and because of that conflict, it’s been a business opportunity for Shield,” he said.
Shield AI plans to raise more than $1 billion, likely early next year, to fund mass production of X-BAT. Steele said the company is in no hurry to go public, as private capital has served it well, though he believes an initial public offering is in its future.
It bought Aechelon Technology, a military simulation firm, this year. He said simulation is central to building an AI pilot, as it lets engineers model how a team or swarm of aircraft will behave.
Steele told investors to expect more acquisitions as Shield AI builds out its product range.