The US Navy has executed a $150 million modification to its existing Other Transaction (OT) agreement with Shield AI to advance X-BAT, an AI-piloted, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter aircraft.
The navy executed the $150 million modification with funding from the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment through its Defense Exportability Features program. Shield AI will invest $150 million of its own capital in X-BAT alongside the government funding.
In August, the Department of the Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive (Aviation) Rapid Capability Cell, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), announced a separate $50 million funding action for X-BAT under the Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) effort. Shield AI committed an additional $50 million in private capital to support that effort.
Together, the two government funding actions and Shield AI’s matching investments bring announced public and private commitments to X-BAT to $400 million.
Shield AI and its suppliers, including GE Aerospace, have assembled a team of 500 engineers to build X-BAT flight-test aircraft. The team has completed engine light-off and integration of the thrust-vectoring nozzle, as well as low- and high-speed wind-tunnel testing to validate the aircraft’s weapons bay aerodynamics.
The aircraft will use Shield AI’s Hivemind software as its AI pilot, enabling operations in GPS-denied and communications-constrained environments.
X-BAT is scheduled to begin flight testing later this year and is a component of DIU's RIMES Project, a multifaceted effort across industry intended to provide Combatant Commanders with long range strike assets capable of taking off and landing vertically from ships, islands and austere sites.
"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.
"That approach helps us identify and resolve issues earlier, reduce development risk and move more quickly toward flight testing."
"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.
"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. 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."