The Pentagon has tapped Shield AI to combine its software program into a brand new one-way assault drone program designed to provide U.S. forces cheaper weapons in bigger numbers because the Iran conflict and different fashionable conflicts speed up demand for unmanned techniques.
The contract, introduced by Shield AI, locations the San Diego-based protection expertise firm on the middle of a Pentagon pilot program to area drone swarms. Shield AI mentioned its Hivemind software program will act because the “AI pilot” for the Low-Price Uncrewed Fight Assault System, referred to as LUCAS, permitting teams of drones to coordinate, maneuver, and adapt collectively in actual time primarily based on enter from U.S. service members.
LUCAS is reportedly reverse-engineered from Iran’s Shahed-136, the low-cost exploding drone that has been utilized by Russia in Ukraine. The U.S. model is about 10 ft lengthy, carries an explosive payload, and prices roughly $35,000, far lower than many conventional precision-guided weapons.
Within the announcement, Brandon Tseng, president and co-founder of Shield AI, mentioned “LUCAS is about delivering inexpensive mass, however mass with out coordination is proscribed in worth. Hivemind is the AI pilot that makes the mass clever. It is the autonomy layer that permits groups of drones to sense, determine, and act at scale. We’re proud to associate with OUSW R&E to place this functionality within the palms of the warfighter on the pace of relevance.”
Reuters reported that the Pentagon is ramping up requests to Congress for munitions funding as a result of weapons are in excessive demand amid the conflict, with the fiscal 2027 price range set to incorporate greater than $26 billion for multiyear procurement contracts for essential munitions.
The trouble comes as Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Drone Dominance” push and the Protection Autonomous Warfare Group, or DAWG, search to speed up drone and autonomy improvement. The Pentagon has outlined almost $55 billion in fiscal 2027 spending on drone and autonomy packages underneath the DAWG umbrella.
Reuters reported final week that the Protection Division additionally struck agreements with Anduril, CoAspire, Leidos, and Zone 5 for the Low-Price Containerized Munitions program, which may finally help the acquisition of greater than 10,000 low-cost missiles over three years beginning in 2027.
The Shield AI program remains to be a pilot, and key particulars stay unclear, together with the contract worth, timetable, and whether or not different corporations are collaborating. However Shield AI mentioned it expects to participate in an operational demonstration of the swarm functionality this fall. Shield AI mentioned the system would enable drone groups to function in “dynamic, communications-constrained environments underneath the supervision of a single operator.”
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