Overview
- Shield AI announced Thursday that the Navy executed a $150 million modification to an existing Other Transaction agreement and that Shield AI will match that award with $150 million of company capital.
- The new $300 million round adds to a prior $100 million joint government‑private investment under the DIU RIMES effort, bringing announced public and private commitments to $400 million.
- Shield AI says its engineering team and suppliers have completed ground hardware milestones such as engine light‑off, thrust‑vectoring nozzle integration, and weapons‑bay wind‑tunnel validation and that initial flight tests are scheduled for late 2026 at Newton City‑County Airport, Kansas.
- The company plans to begin production in a 420,000‑square‑foot X‑Forge 3 facility in Des Moines, Wash., in 2028 with a target to scale to roughly 150 jets per year and about 4,000 Seattle‑area jobs by the early 2030s.
- The Navy’s Defense Exportability Features funding intends to build security and export controls into X‑BAT so allied partners could buy the runway‑independent, Hivemind‑autonomy jet that is pitched to operate from ships, islands and austere sites in GPS‑denied environments.