Indian Army selects Shield AI's V-BAT to push autonomous ISR into daily operations
The Indian Army has signed a deal with Shield AI to procure V-BAT VTOL unmanned aerial systems and licenses for the Hivemind autonomy software, including access to the Hivemind SDK. This closes a long-standing gap: persistent ISR without runways, with minimal logistics, even when GPS or comms are denied.
For operations teams, this is less about drones and more about resilient autonomy. The Army is moving from remote piloting to aircraft that make decisions at the edge and keep flying when links drop.
What this means for operations
V-BAT launches and recovers vertically from a 12-by-12-foot area and flies for more than 12 hours. It runs on heavy fuel and uses a ducted-fan design that is safer in confined or maritime spaces.
That combination changes basing and tasking options. You can fly from ship decks, rooftop pads, high-altitude posts, or austere clearings and still maintain long-duration ISR without a runway.
- Footprint: 12x12 ft launch/recovery. Runway-independent.
- Endurance: 12+ hours for persistent coverage and fewer turnarounds.
- Fuel/logistics: heavy-fuel engine simplifies supply in joint environments.
- Basing: ship decks, forward posts, rooftops, island and border sites.
- Safety: enclosed rotor supports confined and maritime operations.
- Resilience: designed to continue missions when GPS/comms are jammed.
- Scalability: "V-BAT Teams" enables one operator to oversee multiple aircraft.
Hivemind autonomy and the SDK: local control of mission logic
Hivemind lets the aircraft sense, decide, and execute with limited or no human input. If datalinks are jammed, missions continue. For contested airspace, that's the critical feature.
The Hivemind SDK gives Indian developers the tools to build and test mission apps locally-no black boxes. It fits India's push for technological sovereignty in AI and unmanned systems.
- Mission apps: high-altitude route packs, maritime ISR patterns, border EW playbooks.
- Fail-safes: prebuilt behaviors for comms-loss or spoofing events.
- Integration: connect autonomy apps to existing C2 systems and intel pipelines.
- Validation: simulation and instrumented flight tests against EW scenarios.
- Governance: version control, code review, and airworthiness sign-off flows.
"India's selection of V-BAT and Hivemind reflects a clear understanding of the resilient, expeditionary autonomy modern militaries now require," said Sarjan Shah, Shield AI's managing director for India, noting suitability "from the Himalayas to India's oceanic borders".
Manufacturing and sustainment anchored in Hyderabad
Through a partnership with JSW Defence, V-BAT production will be established in India. Construction is underway at EMC Maheshwaram, Hyderabad, with an investment of about $90 million and manufacturing expected to start by Q4 2026.
The facility is planned as a full ecosystem: manufacturing, assembly, testing, operator training, MRO, and a local supply chain. It will supply the Indian Armed Forces and act as a global export hub.
- Stand-up tasks: site prep, tooling, supplier onboarding, workforce training.
- Sustainment: spares forecasting, engine overhauls, airframe repairs, upgrades.
- Training pipeline: operators, maintainers, autonomy app developers, EW specialists.
- Contracts: performance-based logistics, availability SLAs, upgrade roadmaps.
Combat data points that reduce uncertainty
V-BAT deployments in Ukraine forced rapid autonomy improvements against strong electronic warfare. With Hivemind, aircraft reportedly continued missions in jammed airspace without GPS or continuous comms.
Beyond Ukraine, the platform has seen use with the United States Marine Corps, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Frontex, and Brazil. This spread of users signals demand for runway-free, long-endurance ISR that can survive in contested conditions.
Learn more about the platform here: Shield AI V-BAT. For context on Indian military modernization, see the Indian Army.
Operational rollout: a practical checklist
- Select initial theaters: high altitude, island chains, and border sectors with limited infrastructure.
- Define mission sets: persistent ISR, maritime domain awareness, counter-EW reconnaissance, target development.
- Set KPIs: sortie completion in comms-denied zones, time-on-station, target detection rates, MTBF, mission-capable rates.
- Integrate with C2: planning tools, debrief software, intel repositories, and fires coordination (where authorized).
- EW playbooks: preplanned comms-loss behaviors, spoofing detection, and reversion modes.
- Airspace and safety: deconfliction, NOTAM procedures, shipboard flight ops SOPs, rooftop site safety.
- Data pipeline: metadata standards, encryption, retention rules, and redaction for coalition sharing.
- SDK governance: dev environments, code review gates, test ranges, and software release management.
- Training: operator certification, autonomy app labs, EW scenario drills, and ship/land transition courses.
- Sustainment: spares packages, engine support, depot-level repair access, and field-replaceable unit inventories.
- Risk controls: cyber hardening, counterfeit parts screening, and supply chain continuity plans.
- Evaluation cadence: quarterly performance reviews and red-team exercises against evolving EW tactics.
Why the SDK access matters for teams on the ground
It lets units adapt faster. You can localize autonomy for terrain, weather, and adversary behavior without waiting for overseas updates.
Build a library of approved mission apps, versioned and tested, then share them across brigades and maritime task forces. Over time, that becomes an institutional advantage.
Skills and training to prioritize
- Autonomy mission engineering and scenario design.
- EW detection, spoofing response, and degraded-mode procedures.
- Data exploitation: PED workflows, target development, and feedback loops into mission apps.
- Shipboard flight ops and rooftop site operations.
If you're building internal autonomy capability and want structured upskilling paths, explore role-based programs here: AI courses by job.
Bottom line
The V-BAT and Hivemind program gives the Indian Army a runway-free, long-endurance ISR asset built for contested airspace-and the tools to evolve it locally. With domestic manufacturing, SDK access, and combat-proven autonomy, operations teams get a practical path from pilot deployments to sustained, scalable use across land and maritime missions.
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