Shield AI is a US-based defense technology company that designs and deploys autonomous mission systems for aircraft and unmanned platforms, built around its Hivemind autonomy backbone. Founded in 2015, the company employs over 1,000 teammates and maintains offices across the United States and internationally. Its work sits at the intersection of military aviation, unmanned aerial systems and national security, with a stated focus on reducing risk to service members and on "human-directable autonomy" that scales across platforms and theaters.
The company's platform portfolio includes X-BAT, an autonomous mission-ready aircraft, and V-BAT, a vertical take-off and landing unmanned aircraft. Hivemind Enterprise extends the autonomy backbone across domains, while EdgeOS supports the rapid development, testing and deployment of resilient autonomy. Software modules include Pilot, Forge and Commander, and ViDAR provides a capability for operation in GPS and communications-denied environments. Shield AI describes its approach as battle-tested and aircraft-agnostic.
Technical work spans autonomy, AI pilots, edge computing, computer vision, multi-domain autonomy and operations in denied environments. The company states a culture of servant leadership and a mission-first mindset, together with investment in safe, reliable autonomy and collaboration with allies. Its stated vision is "Autonomy for the world", alongside a belief that the greatest victory requires no war.
