Shield AI Expects First Full-Scale X-BAT VTOL Combat Drone by End of October
Shield AI expects its first full-scale X-BAT VTOL combat drone by the end of October 2026 and flight tests later this year, after the U.S. Navy added $150 million to bring external funding to $200 million.
The new Navy money comes through a development agreement that ties payments to specific technical milestones rather than providing the full amount upfront. Shield AI must match the Navy’s $150 million contribution. That follows an earlier $50 million government investment, which the company also matched, the report said.
“We’ve been building two prototype vehicles—they’re full scale. The first one will be done in the next couple of weeks here,” Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft, said according to TechRadar. “And then we’ll be getting into flight testing at the end of this year…going straight to the vertical takeoff and landing tests as the final de-risk of the [technology].”
The X-BAT is designed as a tail-sitting aircraft that can launch and recover vertically without a conventional runway. Its projected range is 2,000 nautical miles, with an operating ceiling of 50,000 feet. Shield AI has cited a projected combat radius ranging from 1,000 to 1,340 nautical miles, with a potential figure around 1,340 nautical miles, approximately twice that of the F-35.
Its planned weapons capacity includes internal bays comparable in size to those aboard the F-35, along with two hardpoints beneath the wings. Those external stations can accommodate weapons, drop tanks or buddy-refuelling equipment, potentially extending mission options. The internal bays can carry strike weapons, and the aircraft’s modular architecture is designed to support electronic warfare and air-to-air missions.
The aircraft uses a General Electric F110 engine combined with an axisymmetric vectoring exhaust nozzle, which helps control it during vertical flight. Shield AI has spent the past year conducting wind tunnel, engine and thermal testing to reduce technical risks before flight demonstrations.
Shield AI expects to have a fully equipped flight-test aircraft in 2028, with early operational capability planned for 2029. Serial production is expected to follow, though the schedule depends on successful testing and the Navy’s assessment of development milestones.
The program is part of the Navy’s Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike initiative, which aims to operate combat aircraft without depending on conventional airfields. Shield AI envisages deploying the X-BAT from amphibious warfare ships and dispersed land locations, potentially increasing access to aircraft without using additional carrier deck space.
The aircraft has not yet demonstrated its defining vertical flight capability, and its projected range, payload and autonomy remain developmental goals. Earlier attempts to develop tail-sitting combat aircraft encountered substantial engineering difficulties, making successful testing essential before the program’s ambitious schedule can be assessed.