Shield AI, a company specializing in autonomy software and unmanned aircraft, has been selected to support the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. The selection follows a competitive evaluation process for mission autonomy Technology Maturity and Risk Reduction (TMRR) efforts.
The company’s Hivemind autonomy software has been integrated onto Anduril’s Fury (YFQ-44A) aircraft and is currently undergoing system-level testing ahead of planned flight demonstrations in the coming months.
Hivemind serves as the artificial intelligence core that functions as a digital pilot, enabling unmanned systems to sense, decide, and act independently. Unlike standard autopilots that follow predetermined routes, Hivemind can navigate around no-fly zones, respond to obstacles, adapt to unexpected conditions, and complete missions without human intervention.
Gary Steele, CEO of Shield AI, emphasized the company’s readiness for this role. “The Air Force is moving with urgency to explore how autonomy can reshape air combat, and we have spent years preparing for this—building, testing, and flying mission autonomy in the real world,” Steele said. “We will work relentlessly to deliver and to help advance the next era of airpower alongside the Air Force and its industry partners.”
Christian Gutierrez, vice president of Hivemind Solutions at Shield AI, highlighted the technical challenges involved. “Delivering mission autonomy in real-world combat conditions is hard, which is why Shield AI has spent more than a decade building Hivemind and the technical and operational foundation to do it right,” Gutierrez stated.
The company brings experience fielding mission-critical autonomy on complex weapon systems and operational knowledge across multiple domains. Hivemind is compliant with the Autonomy Government Reference Architecture (A-GRA) and platform-agnostic, allowing integration across various aircraft types.
Previous demonstrations of A-GRA-aligned autonomy have included work with General Atomics’ MQ-20 Avenger, Northrop Grumman’s Talon IQ autonomous ecosystem, U.S. Navy BQM-177 test aircraft, and the Airbus UH-72A Lakota helicopter.
The CCA program represents a significant shift in how the Air Force approaches air combat, with autonomous systems expected to operate alongside manned aircraft. Shield AI’s selection positions the company to play a key role in shaping this future capability, building on years of real-world testing and development of mission autonomy solutions.
