V-BAT drones and Hivemind software to be supplied to Indian Army by Shield AI
NewsJanuary 30, 2026
NEW DELHI, India. Shield AI says the Indian Army has selected the company to supply V-BAT uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) along with licenses for its Hivemind autonomy software to be integrated onto the aircraft, the company announced in a statement.
The agreement also includes licensing of the Hivemind software development kit (SDK), which Shield AI says is intended to support development, deployment, and evaluation of mission autonomy across platforms, including work by select partners in India. The company says the selection builds on a partnership to manufacture V-BAT domestically, citing a JSW Defence Pvt. Ltd. facility that began construction in December 2025 at EMC Maheshwaram in Hyderabad under a $90 million investment.
Shield AI describes V-BAT as a Group 3 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAS with a ducted-fan design, a heavy-fuel engine, and more than 12 hours of endurance. The company says the aircraft is intended to support intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and targeting in electronic warfare (EW) settings, including shipboard and austere launch-and-recovery, and that Hivemind is meant to enable beyond-visual-range (BVR) operations.
