Deployment
Shield AI V-BAT at San Diego, CA
Group 3 VTOL fixed-wing ISR/targeting drone (designated MQ-35) that takes off and lands vertically from a small footprint, powered by the Hivemind autonomy stack and resilient in GPS- and communications-denied environments. Fielded in Ukraine and selected by the US Coast Guard. (V-BAT Teams is a multi-aircraft capability, not a separate model.)
Shield AI V-BAT by Shield AI · Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verified · Drones
Recent coverage
- Shield AI and Taiwan's NCSIST complete autonomous swarm exercise and expand sovereign AI and Autonomy effortsshield.ai · 2026-08-05
- L3Harris and Shield AI complete autonomous electronic warfare flight testshield.ai · 2026-07-16
- New Pentagon unmanned czar will oversee most drone programsBen Smith, Deploy Editor · 2026-07-01
Shield AI V-BAT VTOL UAS deployed with US military and international customers. Autonomous ISR without GPS or comms. Aggregate defense deployment.
Key facts
- Fleet
- Shield AI V-BAT VTOL UAS
- Operator
- US military and international customers
- Use Case
- Autonomous ISR without GPS or comms
- Technology
- VTOL UAS with GPS-denied and comms-denied autonomy
Exposure
- Customer segment
- logistics
- Scale tier
- commercial 10 99
Each exposure value carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Safety record
1 incident on record (1 serious). Most recent: May 2026.
- serious
- 1
Most recent: May 2026
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Incidents on record (1)
Direct incidents recorded against this deployment. Retracted incidents are excluded here but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
- Trust tier
- Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
- Last updated
- 2026-08-21
- Model
- Shield AI V-BAT
- Company
- Shield AI
- Location
- United States/California/San Diego, CA
- Operator
- Shield AI
- Status
- operational
- Operator type
- maker operated
- Scale at site
- 11 to 100 units
- Site environment
- outdoor
- Location precision
- verified coordinates
- First seen
- 2024-06-01
- ID
e842a739-3d44-4458-8777-b08c9b3ecc87
Timeline
- Jun 2024First recordedShield AI V-BAT first documented operating at San Diego, CA.
- Jun 2026created
- Aug 2026Current status: operational, reviewedLatest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.
On the deployment map
Shield AI V-BAT operates in San Diego, CA. Explore the full verified map:
Sources (2)
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: production
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: aerial
Sources by quality tier
- 2
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Shield AI V-BAT at San Diego, CA.Common questions
What is the Shield AI V-BAT deployment at San Diego, CA?
Who operates Shield AI V-BAT at San Diego, CA?
When did the Shield AI V-BAT deployment at San Diego, CA go live?
Have there been incidents at the Shield AI V-BAT deployment at San Diego, CA?
Is Shield AI V-BAT at San Diego, CA safe?
Deploy Watch
Track this deployment.
We notify you when status changes against primary-source evidence, contract events surface, or a related incident is filed.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /deployments/shield-ai-vbat-military.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/robots/e842a739-3d44-4458-8777-b08c9b3ecc87
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Shield AI's presentation of its V-BAT VTOL uncrewed aircraft operating in autonomous teams via its Hivemind autonomy. An ISR platform; swarm and contested-environment claims are Shield AI's.