Shield AI Awarded $198M Coast Guard Contract for V-BAT Deployment

The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Shield AI a $198 million contract for the deployment of the latter’s V-BAT unmanned aircraft system on Coast Guard cutters.  

Under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, the V-BAT system will provide contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaisance services to support Coast Guard missions, Shield AI said.

According to the San Diego-based aerospace company, its V-BAT UAS, with over five years of operational experience at sea, is seen by U.S. and international customers as a versatile platform capable of performing a wide range of missions, Shield AI said.

Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s president and co-founder, said V-BAT’s selection reflects a market trend where customers recognize the capability of cheaper UAVs to perform missions previously conducted by expensive manned or unmanned aircraft.

Shield AI added that V-BAT is the only single-engine ducted fan vertical takeoff and landing drone capable of launching and recovering from a hover and fly while in horizontal flight.

Last March, Shield AI was tapped by the U.S. Navy to integrate Hivemind, the company’s artificial intelligence-based autonomous pilot solution, into the service’s BqM0177A aerial target drones.