Mission autonomy software from Shield AI to support U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft program
NewsFebruary 13, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. Shield AI was selected as a mission autonomy provider for the United States Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program to support Technology Maturity and Risk Reduction (TMRR) activities, the company announced in a statement.
Shield AI says its Hivemind autonomy software has been integrated on Anduril Industries’ Fury aircraft (YFQ-44A) and is being used for system-level testing ahead of flight demonstrations, the statement reads. The company describes Hivemind as mission autonomy software intended to perform sensing, decision-making, and action functions associated with piloted operations, the statement adds.
Shield AI says the software is compliant with the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) and is designed to be platform-agnostic, the statement reads. The company says it has demonstrated A-GRA-aligned autonomy in government and industry test efforts, including work involving General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Northrop Grumman, the United States Navy, and Airbus, the statement adds.
In a separate statement, the Air Force says the effort demonstrates that mission software can be decoupled from vehicle hardware, enabling integration of autonomy algorithms across A-GRA-compliant aircraft and reducing reliance on single-vendor solutions. The Air Force describes A-GRA as a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) framework intended to speed onboarding of new software from a wider set of industry partners, the statement reads.
