Shield AI has been chosen by NAVAIR PMA-281 for a significant project: integrating its AI Pilot technology into the Kratos BQM-177A, enhancing the U.S. Navy’s fleet protection capabilities through advanced artificial intelligence. This marks Shield AI’s eighth aircraft integration, showcasing the company’s increasing efficiency in deploying its AI solutions across various Department of Defense (DoD) platforms.

The integration with the Kratos BQM-177A, known for its high-speed and low-altitude flight capabilities, represents a leap forward in crewed-uncrewed teaming (CU-T) capabilities. Shield AI’s President and Cofounder, Brandon Tseng, highlights the company’s rapid integration process and the potential of combining their AI pilot with the Kratos BQM-177A’s performance.

Shield AI’s approach employs a foundational autonomy behavior architecture, enhanced for complex, collaborative tactics among multi-agent systems. This enables precise coordination of multiple sensor-equipped or shooter-equipped uncrewed aircraft, advancing collaborative tactical behaviors for defensive counterair (DCA) operations.

Hivemind, Shield AI’s flagship AI pilot, enables autonomous operation of intelligent aircraft in high-threat environments, without reliance on remote operators or GPS. The technology, which has flown on six different aircraft types, including jets and quadcopters, is now set to be integrated into the Kratos BQM-177A and later the XQ-58 Valkyrie.