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Autonomy Software Key To Restoring Precision To Munitions: Shield AI

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Credit: Shield AI

PARIS—Munitions assisted by Shield AI’s Hivemind software strike targets at a rate of 75% or higher in real conflicts, company President Ryan Tseng tells Aviation Week.

The company’s data from Hivemind usage in recent conflicts exposes a new trend, he said in an interview during the Eurosatory trade show here.

Munitions once regarded as “precision-guided” had been rendered dumb by enemy efforts to deny them access to their often space-based navigation source, he said. Probably-of-kill (Pk) rates for such GPS-guided munitions had fallen to less than 5%.

But the introduction of Hivemind software reversed this trend in conflicts including in Ukraine, where Shield AI’s software has been integrated on a wide range of loitering attack munitions, Tseng said.

“The best autonomous weapons right now have Pks north of 75%, so it’s a huge step up,” Tseng said.

On the first day of the Eurosatory trade show here, Shield AI and Netherlands-based munitions startup Destinus announced integrating Hivemind capabilities on the latter’s Hornet, a drone interceptor.

Both companies plan to transition the Hivemind software to the Destinus Ruta cruise missile.

Steve Trimble

Steve covers military aviation, missiles and space for the Aviation Week Network, based in Washington, DC.