DSEI 2025: Shield AI pairing V-BAT with strike platform made by unnamed Ukrainian company

The Shield AI V-BAT Block 5.3, featuring new landing gear. (Shield AI)

US company Shield AI is pairing its V-BAT unmanned aircraft system (UAS) with a loitering munition produced by an unnamed Ukrainian company in an effort to speed up its kill chain, James Lythgoe, managing director at Shield AI Ukraine, told Janes in an interview on 11 September at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025 exhibition held in London from 9 to 12 September.

The company began testing the UAS paired with the strike platform in Ukraine in September. It is expected that the system will become operational before the end of 2025.

“We donated four aircraft to a unit within [Ukraine's] Unmanned Systems Forces and what we're doing with them is integrating and testing V-BAT with a Ukrainian strike platform,” Lythgoe said. The V-BAT passes the targeting data to the platform. This is the first time the company's AI-powered autonomy software Hivemind will be integrated into another company's hardware in Ukraine, according to Lythgoe.

“We wanted to own the full process, the full kill chain. In order to do that we needed to partner with a really credible Ukrainian company that was already doing this, and also to scale it so we can do this en masse,” Lythgoe added.

Previously Shield AI was able to integrate Hivemind into other platforms within the span of six to eight weeks, according to Lythgoe. The company's integrations with Hivemind include the X-62A VISTA (variable stability in-flight simulator test aircraft), which involved manoeuvring an F-16 fighter; General Atomics' MQ-20 Avenger; Kratos' MQM-178 Firejet; and Airbus' H145 helicopter.