The American Shield AI went even further by presenting a much more advanced model, as an “unmanned fighter”, the X-BAT! Here the innovations… crowd together as the aircraft is declared as “vertical” launch, through a special suspension carrier, which can also be mobile, as dragged by a trailer, while it returns to the same carrier for landing/reconnection. Thus, theoretically the X-BAT can be launched from anywhere, without the need for airports, even from ships.
The specifications speak of a maximum altitude of 50,000 feet, a jet engine with perhaps supersonic performance (if it is a GE F110 type), a stealth design, a range of 2,000 nautical miles, an internal weapons store, with the ability to carry AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles or even guided bombs. The aircraft is large, about 8 meters long and 12 meters wide, while the variety of armament can be large as there are also external suspension pylons.
Most interesting is the integration of the company’s Hivemind software, which promises artificial intelligence for almost complete autonomous action, with the ability to select an appropriate approach in dangerous environments, analyze threats, select an attack profile, and in environments with GPS data interference, etc. Hivemind has already been tested for autonomous action by an F-16 fighter, so there is accumulated know-how.
The X-BAT thus falls into the category of “loyal wingman” unmanned aircraft, i.e. semi-autonomous/autonomous escort fighters, but also as autonomous action, which can also operate cooperatively in swarms of the same type.
As for the cost? It is not stated exactly (there are indications of around 27-30 million dollars) but the company confirms that the cost of acquisition and use will be much lower than a manned fighter, while the performance and range of missions will be close. Overall, a proposal for partial (or even total) substitution of manned fighters with futuristic “drones” that will attack en masse with a large weapon load, in an intelligent way and without any “complaints”.
