Shield AI

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Shield AI is an American aerospace and arms technology company based in San Diego, California. It develops artificial intelligence-powered fighter pilots, drones, and technology for military operations. Its clients include the United States Special Operations Command, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, US Navy and several international militaries.

The company’s small-unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) Nova became the first AI-powered drone to be deployed for military purposes in US history.

Shield AI established in 2015 is an arms and artificial intelligence technology startup founded by former-Navy Seal Officer Brandon Tseng, his brother Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter in San Diego, California.^[1][2] According to David Ignatius, writing for The Washington Post, ex-Navy SEAL Brandon got the startup idea while fighting in Afghanistan. In one of the missions, his unit suffered casualties in the Uruzgan province due to poor reconnaissance of a hostile building.^[3] The founding team began operations with a seed fund of $100,000 gathered from friends and family. They began building a prototype of their flagship Nova drone in 2015.^[4]

In 2016, Shield AI received its first contract, one from the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) autonomy program. As part of this contract, Nova was first deployed for reconnaissance and combat assistance in the Middle East in 2018.^[4]

In 2021, the company received a $7.2 million contract from the US Air Force for its small-unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS).^[5] It later acquired arms contractor Heron Systems and aerospace company Martin UAV for undisclosed amounts.^[1] Over the years, it has received funding from venture capitalist firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Breyer Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank.^[6]

In June 2022, following a $165 million funding round, the company was valued at $2.3 billion.^[1][7][8]

In 2022, the company received another contract from the US Air Force, through the Pentagon’s AfVentures Strategic Funding Increase (AFWERX-STRATFI) Program. FedScoop reported the contract to be worth $60 million.^[9] In July 2022, it was chosen as one of several companies to aid the US Air Force for its Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program.^[10]

In 2022, the company opened an office in the United Arab Emirates under retired Navy SEAL vice-admiral Bob Harward.^[11] The United States Sixth Fleet included the subject in its "Digital Horizon" sea exercise in Bahrain in November 2022 to demonstrate unmanned and artificial intelligence capabilities.^[12]

In October 2023, the company raised $200 million at $2.7 billion valuation, co-led by U.S. Innovation Technology Fund (USIT) and Riot Ventures.^[13][14]

In June 2024, the United States Coast Guard awarded a contract worth up to $198.1 million to provide UAS capability that can be deployed from Coast Guard cutters for five years.^[15]

Shield AI employs machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop military software and tools. It developed Nova, an autonomous quadcopter drone, and Hivemind, its autonomy and artificial intelligence stack in 2015. This software helps drones and aircraft maneuver autonomously in GPS- and communication-degraded environments. Its products are used for reconnaissance in close-quarters combat and solving problems like room-clearing and fatal funnel.^[4]

Nova is an autonomous quadcopter drone categorized as a UAS that runs using lidar technology and can navigate in GPS-agnostic environments.^[1][4] When used in military combat missions, the drone can enter a hostile building and send its photos and maps to a unit of soldiers to help them better navigate it. Nova and Hivemind have since been used by the US Special Operations Command for reconnaissance and combat operations. According to WIRED’s Elliot Ackerman, this was likely the first time an AI-powered drone of that scale was being used in combat in US military history. The Wall Street Journal called it “the first autonomous robot of its kind used in combat”. In 2021, the company released Nova 2.^[4][16]

Shield AI develops AI-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft called V-BAT through its acquisition of Martin UAV. In 2022, Brazil ordered a batch of V-BATs for its defense unit.^[17] The company has also developed a drone swarming capability called V-BAT Teams, which enables a single human operator to command a minimum of four V-BAT drones.^[13]

In December 2022, as part of the DARPA Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program, a collaboration between DARPA, the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, and the Air Force Research Lab, Shield AI's algorithm flew on the X-62A VISTA at Edwards Air Force Base.^[18] In May of 2024, Frank Kendall III, the United States Secretary of the Air Force flew in the backseat of the X-62A while it was autonomously flown by Shield AI's AI algorithm.^[19] The ACE Team was a finalist for the 2023 Collier Trophy, ultimately losing out to the OSIRIS-REx mission to retrieve a sample from an asteroid and return it back to Earth.^[20]