Shield AI announced on October 8, 2026, that the U.S. Navy had executed a $150 million modification to its existing Other Transaction Agreement with the company. The funding will advance X-BAT, an AI-piloted vertical takeoff and landing fighter aircraft.

Shield AI will match the government funding with $150 million of its own capital. The new commitments add another $300 million in public and private investment to the aircraft program.

The Navy executed the modification using funding from the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment. The money was provided through the office’s Defense Exportability Features program.

The latest action follows a separate $50 million funding action announced in August by the Department of the Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation Rapid Capability Cell and the Defense Innovation Unit. That funding supported X-BAT under the Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike effort, known as RIMES.

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The August action was a separate prior modification to the existing Other Transaction agreement. Shield AI independently committed another $50 million in private capital alongside that government funding.

Taken together, the two government actions and Shield AI’s matching investments bring announced public and private commitments to X-BAT to $400 million. The funding reflects a substantial combined push behind the aircraft and its planned capabilities.

Across the broader program, 500 engineers at Shield AI and key suppliers are building flight test aircraft. GE Aerospace is among the suppliers participating in the effort.

The development team has completed engine light-off and integrated the thrust vectoring nozzle. It also validated the aircraft’s weapons bay aerodynamics through low-speed and high-speed wind tunnel testing.

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Shield AI’s Hivemind software will serve as the aircraft’s AI pilot. The software is intended to enable X-BAT operations in conditions where GPS and communications are constrained.

“We are testing early and often while working on the aircraft, mission systems, ship suitability and production in parallel,” said Armor Harris, senior vice president of aircraft at Shield AI.

Harris added, “That approach helps us identify and resolve issues earlier, reduce development risk and move more quickly toward flight testing.”

X-BAT is scheduled to begin flight testing later in 2026. The aircraft is also a component of the Defense Innovation Unit’s RIMES Project, a multifaceted industry effort focused on runway independent long range strike capabilities.

RIMES is intended to provide Combatant Commanders with long range strike assets capable of taking off and landing vertically from ships, islands and austere sites. The concept would extend the strategic reach of surface and expeditionary assets without dependence on fixed runways.

Shield AI describes X-BAT as a low-observable, multirole aircraft designed for vertical takeoff and landing from ships, islands, and austere locations. Its design is intended to extend long-range airpower without requiring fixed runways.

“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, a TOPGUN graduate and former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.

Cummings said, “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 added, “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.”

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company focused on protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies.

Shield AI maintains offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. According to the company, its technology supports operations worldwide.

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