Documents
United States Shield AI
Hivemind
Shield AI's AI-pilot autonomy software stack, letting uncrewed and optionally-crewed aircraft sense, decide and act without a remote operator or continuous datalink. Powers V-BAT, X-BAT and, as of a June 2026 U.S. Air Force production contract, mission autonomy for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program.
In service since 2018
Compiled from public sources ·primary reference ↗ ·last verified 2026-08-03
Procurement snapshot
Availability & export
US ITAR-controlled
Export needs U.S. State Dept (DDTC) approval; end-use & re-transfer restrictions apply.
Channel: Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or Direct Commercial Sale
Fielded & proven
Operator data not public
In service since 2018. Status: active.
Lifecycle cost (est.)
No public unit price to model from. Why so few systems publish one →
Interoperability
No standardised NATO calibre / datalink detected in public specs.
Derived guidance from public data, export regime by country of origin, lifecycle from the GAO ~30% acquisition rule. Verify eligibility, pricing and offsets with the manufacturer and your acquisition authority.
Overview
Hivemind is Shield AI's core AI-pilot software, built to fly aircraft autonomously through GPS-denied, communications-degraded and contested environments where a remote human operator cannot maintain a reliable link. It has been flown on the company's own V-BAT and X-BAT platforms, and in June 2026 the U.S. Air Force awarded Shield AI a production contract to implement Hivemind as the mission autonomy software for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Shield AI markets the stack in Hivemind Enterprise and Hivemind Vision product lines and has also flown Hivemind-derived autonomy on test platforms including a modified F-16 (X-62A VISTA) under the U.S. Air Force's autonomy research programs.
Full specifications
Software & C2
Command, control, mission and combat-system software capability.
| Software type What the software does: combat management, battle management, mission planning, fire control, EW management, cyber defense or ISR fusion. | Autonomous flight / mission autonomy |
|---|---|
| Operating domains Warfare domains the software covers: air, land, sea, subsurface, space, cyber. More domains means broader joint integration. | Air |
| Open architecture Standards-based, modular design (FACE, OMS/UCI, SOSA) versus a closed proprietary stack. Open architecture eases upgrades and third-party integration. | Proprietary |
| Integrates with Platforms, sensors or effectors the software is designed to command or fuse. | V-BAT, X-BAT, Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) |
Specifications compiled from public Shield AI and reference sources ↗. Published defense figures are approximations, treat comparisons as directional. Last verified 2026-08-03.
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What is the Shield AI Hivemind used for? +
The Shield AI Hivemind is a software & c2 typically used for command control.
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