The Air Force’s “software sold separately” plan to buy critical autonomy software decoupled from the physical air vehicle for its nascent Collaborative Combat Aircraft fleet could help the drones evolve quickly, foster competition, and avoid vendor lock-in, experts and service officials told Air & Space ...
Shield AI
When Air Combat Command began developing a simplified aircraft readiness metric two years ago, the aim was to turn voluminous data points into a single number that could enable commands at every echelon to know exactly how many planes they could get off the ground ...
Anduril Industries flew its YFQ-44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft with two different mission software systems during the same flight Feb. 24, an Air Force official revealed at AFA’s Warfare Symposium.
AURORA, Colo. — Shield AI takes us inside their new AI-piloted VTOL fighter jet, dubbed the “X-BAT,” at the 2026 Warfare Symposium. The X-BAT will be capable of launching and recovering from ships, remote islands, or austere forward bases while...
The Air Force is working with Collins Aerospace and Shield AI to develop the software Collaborative Combat Aircraft will use to fly missions alongside manned fighters, the service revealed Feb. 12—and drone-maker General Atomics was quick to announce it has already flown its YFQ-42A aircraft with Collins’ system.
Shield AI has entered the increasingly crowded field of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, this week announcing its “X-BAT” vehicle that stands out from others by having both vertical takeoff and landing capability and supersonic speed.
As the Air Force prepares for great power competition and a potential high-end fight with the likes of China and Russia, its training needs to keep pace, and artificial intelligence and open systems can provide a better representation of the threats and the ways the ...
Collaborative Combat Aircraft should be viewed as force-builders and not expendable vehicles, senior USAF and industry leaders said at a panel discussion during the AFA Warfare Symposium in Colorado this week. Building 1,000 such aircraft in the needed timelines will require tapping the commercial industrial ...
Heather Penney of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies moderated a discussion on "Manned-Unmanned Teaming: Myth and Reality" with Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration, and requirements, Mike Benitez of Shield AI, Robert Winkler of Kratos, and ...