Dual-use tech: the Shield AI example

While V-BAT was initially designed, tested and deployed for military purposes it has also been used for civil applications. The company markets the drone for “securing borders, hunting drugs, finding threats”, while Brandon Tseng stated that the “V-BAT continues to prove its operational use cases are limited only by our customers’ imaginations.” Between May and June 2025, the V-BAT was used by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, for a pilot mission to surveil Europe’s borders. During the pilot mission, Shield AI boasted of a “significant” impact in reducing irregular border crossings, and emphasised the dual role of the drone in bringing wildfires in the region under control. In September 2025, the Greek military acquired four V-BAT drones to be used for surveillance across the Evros river (at Greece’s highly militarised northern border with Turkey), as well as at the country’s southern borders in the Aegean sea. It has also been reported that Italy’s Guardia di Finanza has purchased two of the drones for maritime surveillance and detection of irregular migrant journeys, using money from the EU Internal Security Fund.

In 2022, Shield AI signed a contract to provide V-BAT drones to Brazilian defence company VSK Tactical, which claims it will use them for border and coastal surveillance, rainforest “security and management” and homeland security operations. The V-BAT has also been bought by the Japanese and Dutch Ministries of Defence for maritime intelligence operations.

In April 2025, Shield AI released the ViDAR pod – an AI-enabled Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) system, which it gained following the acquisition of Sentient Vision. ViDAR is hardware that provides “persistent surveillance”, using electro-optical or infrared sensors to detect and identify targets, and has been integrated into V-BAT drones. The product has caught the eye of military forces: in March 2025, it was reported that Shield AI had sold the technology to the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). Just three months later, Shield AI completed trials with the Australian army to mount ViDAR “sensory pods” onto military aircraft for surveillance operations.

Partnerships and programmes

Shield AI has been significantly bolstered by US military innovation funding, such as the Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) programme, which aims to support tech start-ups to sell technology to the military and bridge the so-called “Valley of Death” (the early phase of a start-up company when it has to become self-sufficient beyond its initial capital).

The company has also engaged in collaborations with three of the US’ ‘Big Five’ defence companies (Boeing, Northrop Grumman and RTX, formally Raytheon). For instance, it has worked with Boeing to expand the use of autonomous capabilities and AI in defence, including by potentially integrating Boeing aircraft with Hivemind. It has collaborated with RTX to integrate Hivemind into its RTX’s sensors and exploding drones, and it is working with Airbus to integrate Hivemind into an unmanned helicopter.

Shield AI has also collaborated with major tech players, including a recently announced partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that seeks to integrate Shield AI’s Hivemind across AWS’ IOT Core and Elastic Container Registry. Precise details, including the contract’s worth, are currently unavailable, however the press release states that the deal will mean Hivemind is deployed across platforms providing both defence and civil functions, including agricultural operations, the oil, gas and mining industries, and warehouse operations.

In 2024, data analytics company Palantir partnered with Shield AI to develop large-scale autonomous drone technology that combines Palantir’s software with Hivemind and V-BAT. The firm is also reportedly working with Anduril to develop autonomous capabilities for Anduril’s YFQ-44A drone using Hivemind.

Beyond relationships with major defence and technology firms, Shield AI has collaborated with companies and militaries in order to produce customised versions of its products for local markets. For example, Hivemind has been adopted by Singapore’s Air Force and Defence Science and Technology Agency. And in September 2025, Shield AI entered into a “Teaming Agreement” with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to strengthen Taiwan’s AI defence capabilities, including with the V-BAT.

People & politics

Shield AI was co-founded by the Tseng brothers: Brandon, a former US Navy Seal, and Ryan, an engineer who served as the company’s CEO. The pair still play a leading role as co-presidents. However, in March 2025, it was announced that Gary Steele would be taking over as CEO. Steele is a tech entrepreneur who founded cybersecurity firm, Proofpoint, and ran it for 20 years.

Shield AI has many ties with major figures in politics and the surveillance tech industry. After having spent a decade as Palantir’s Head of Government Relations, former State Department official Chip Burkhalter joined Shield AI in January 2021 in a similar government relations role. According to Open Secrets, the company‘s lobbying budget grew twentyfold from 2021, bringing it almost on par with Palantir’s – and reaching $1.4m in 2024 alone.

In the years since, its ties to the government have deepened. For instance, John Ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence and current director of the CIA, worked for Shield AI as a consultant between 2021-2022. During this time he co-wrote a letter to the Republican leaders of the House and Senate arguing that regulations on Big Tech, including the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), would put US companies at a “structural disadvantage vis-à-vis China”. Ratcliffe reportedly owns thousands of shares in companies those bills proposed restricting, including Shield AI.

Other critical issues

The Israeli military has reportedly used Shield AI’s Nova 2 for “close-quarters indoor combat and has reportedly requested 200 Switchblade 600 kamikaze drones” and V-BAT drones.

The US Coast Guard has deployed the V-BAT drone to identify and track boats in Trump’s ‘Operation Pacific Viper’, an aggressive campaign which targets human and drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Critics have questioned the legality, necessity and ethics of the campaign following missile strikes which have killed dozens of people since its launch in August 2025.

Who’s behind the brand?

Shield AI has benefited from funding from defence and technology firms including L3Harris, which was a major investor in the company’s most recent $240m funding round. As a venture capital-backed business, Shield AI has received funding from many Silicon Valley investment firms, including Breyer Capital, Hercules Capital, and SVB Capital (Silicon Valley Bank) and Other People’s Capital (which specifically funds companies developing dual-use technology).

As with Anduril, Shield AI has received funding from billionaire Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund, as well as Peter Thiel (co-founder of Palantir and power-broker) and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which became one of the most active foreign investors in Israel following the latest phase of the genocide in Palestine. The involvement of these venture capital investments brings into focus the role of private finance, often based in Silicon Valley, in shaping the future of modern warfare.