A start-up for the production of UAVs presents an extraordinary achievement in the skies of Ukraine

Over a battlefield littered with failed American drones, the California-based startup Shield AI achieved an important victory in Ukraine. In August, the company became a rare Western supplier in Ukraine, which proved that it could withstand the brutal electronic warfare that brings down drones throughout the country. Ukraine, which has so far preferred domestically produced UAVs, has now requested hundreds of Shield AI systems.

The company’s success is a bright spot for the not-so-bright American drone industry as a whole. American drone manufacturers have sent hundreds of UAVs to Ukraine in hopes of earning a combat experience badge. Few have passed the test.

The sale of a large drone squadron to Ukraine would double Shield AI’s revenue, and perhaps position it as one of the few successful in the new generation of military technology startups. This is an area where many have had difficulty converting the development of high-tech weapons into a business capable of sustaining itself.

Shield AI said it posted $163 million in revenue last year, nearly double what it will bring in in 2022, mostly from territories with US governments and NATO countries.

The Ukrainians have requested more than 200 Shield AI drones, which typically cost about $1 million each, though they are cheaper when purchased in bulk.

Shield AI was founded nearly a decade ago by Brandon Tseng, the company’s president and former Navy SEAL, and his brother, Ryan, who serves as CEO. Investors saw it as a promising private-sector partner to modernize the Pentagon.

The startup, based in San Diego, has raised about $800 million, at a valuation of nearly $3 billion, making it the fourth most valuable defense company in the world backed by venture capital funds. It is ranked ahead of more well-known defense companies, including Anduril Industries and SpaceX.

Like an autonomous car

Shield focused on building artificial intelligence software that works similarly to the brain of an autonomous car and turns weapons into self-maneuvering machines.

The company has begun to make its way into the US defense complex. The US Navy and Marines use the same long-range UAV tested in Ukraine – the V-BAT, a UAV that takes off and lands vertically and reaches a height of about nine meters. The US Air Force is testing fighter jets that use Shield’s artificial intelligence software to test unmanned aircraft.

Shield hopes its success in Ukraine will help it break away from the swarm of startup companies developing drones, but struggling. Most of the U.S. drones brought to Ukraine flew off course when hit by electronic warfare, fell out of the sky or even had trouble taking off. They were often faulty, difficult to operate and expensive, Ukrainian officials said.

“Ukrainians are extremely skeptical about any company’s claims, and they have every right to be skeptical,” Tseng said.

Ukraine has been largely self-reliant and has built a national industry of more than 200 drone manufacturers. However, the growing intensity of electronic warfare has led to a decrease in the effectiveness of the Ukrainians’ tactics to protect the UAVs from jamming.

The Ukrainians and Russians are deploying jammers — devices that use radio signals to drown out the transmissions received from GPS satellites, disabling the receivers that the UAVs rely on. “You’ve never seen a threat like this amount of jamming,” said Stacey Pettijohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security.

Ukraine is losing at least 10,000 drones a month to electronic warfare, and is looking for new technologies to keep them in the air. Among them are drones that operate with AI, autonomously and without radio and GPS, using software and internal maps to maneuver over disrupted front lines.

“There is only one answer”

“If you can’t put a pilot in the plane, and you can’t control the plane remotely, how will the plane fly?” said Dan Gwak, managing partner at Point72 Private Investments, an investor in Shield AI and a member of the company’s board of directors. “There is only one answer, and that is artificial intelligence.”

Shield’s V-BATs could fill Ukraine’s need for aircraft capable of long-range missions without having to deal with electronic warfare, Tseng said, because domestic UAVs often can’t fly more than 15 to 25 kilometers from the front. .

Shield’s V-BAT has AI software, sensors and Nvidia chips. This technology allows the UAV to maneuver on its own, survey battlefields and identify targets, without a remote pilot or GPS. It can fly for 12 hours or a thousand kilometers and carry 11 kilograms of explosives to drop on targets.

At a test site west of Kiev, the V-BAT underwent two days of intensive electronic warfare testing – seven jammers operating at full power to try to shoot down the aircraft. The V-BAT continued to fly, according to Ukrainian testers and a Ukrainian military document.

The V-BAT was later tested during a Ukrainian operation near the Dnipro, southeast of Kyiv and close to the front line. He flew more than 100 kilometers and deep into Russian-controlled territory, through airspace so disturbed that GPS and most radios would not work in it. The UAV spotted a Russian surface-to-air missile system and alerted the Ukrainians, who hit it with a rocket, Tseng said.

“It looks like a good combat UAV,” said a Ukrainian UAV operator who tested the V-BAT and goes by the call sign Kord. “Many of the UAVs don’t pass this test, because they don’t have the capabilities.”

The long-term performance of Shield AI’s UAVs is expected to be tested against the background of Russia’s relentless attack in the air and on land and Ukraine’s difficulty in responding. The company has no experience in warfare, and its production capabilities have yet to be tested. Currently, it can build about 120 aircraft per year at the production plant Its in Frisco, Texas.

A small number of American and other European defense companies have also had some success in countering electronic warfare in Ukraine. Virginia-based AeroVironment has a contract with the US Department of Defense to supply drones to Ukraine, and Germany’s Quantum Systems is building drones in Kiev.

Shield AI joins the small group of Western UAV companies that have received a request from the Ukrainian government, which often prefers its local suppliers.

“Buying from outside is not a priority,” said Oleksandr Kamishin, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The US or NATO will have to pay for the V-BATs. However, with the upcoming US elections, with the ongoing debate in Congress over funding for Ukraine and with unstable support from Europe, arms purchases may be delayed or derailed.

Brett Forrest and Alistair McDonald contributed to this article