Overview
- Shield AI completed the first full‑scale X‑BAT prototype in Frisco, Texas, on Wednesday and transported it to its Newton, Kansas flight‑test center to begin horizontal engine runs, crane‑tethered VTOL trials, and later untethered flights.
- The aircraft uses a GE Aerospace F110‑GE‑129E turbofan with an Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle and Shield AI and GE finished engine ignition, nozzle movement, and integration checks in July at GE’s Peebles, Ohio facility.
- The X‑BAT program has about $400 million in combined public and private backing, including a U.S. Navy $150 million contract modification matched by Shield AI and an earlier $100 million Navy/DIU award.
- Shield AI is building a regional industrial hub called X‑Forge 3 south of Seattle that it plans to open in spring 2027, with first production aircraft targeted for 2028 and a ramp to roughly 150 jets per year by the early 2030s and thousands of local jobs.
- Company executives are actively courting European orders and local partners, but key performance claims — over 2,000 nautical mile range, a roughly 1,000 nm combat radius, and ~2,000‑lb internal payload — remain company assertions until flight tests verify them.