A California-based defence company is preparing to ship combat-tested unmanned aircraft to India, a frontline state in Asia’s standoff with China. The deal centers on the V-BAT, a vertical takeoff and landing drone that has already seen action in high-intensity conflicts and is now being tailored for the Indian Army’s needs. It marks one of the clearest signs yet that Washington’s most advanced battlefield autonomy is moving directly into the hands of China’s wary neighbors.
For India, which has long struggled to close the gap with Chinese air and missile forces along the Himalayan frontier and in the Indian Ocean, the arrival of these systems is about more than hardware. It signals a deeper technology partnership with the United States, including rare transfers of software and production know-how that could reshape the regional drone balance over the next decade.
The V-BAT deal: combat-tested drones for the Indian Army
The core of the new arrangement is a package of V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing drones and the autonomy stack that makes them valuable in contested airspace. Under the agreement, the Indian Army is tying up with the US drone company Shield AI to field V-BAT systems that can operate even when cut off from human operators, a capability that has been refined in the brutal learning environment of the Ukraine conflict, according to Indian Army ties. Shield AI’s own statement on the partnership describes how its Hivemind autonomy software will be integrated with the V-BAT Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Hivemind Autonomy Software for the Indian Army, underscoring that this is as much a software export as a platform sale.
The V-BAT itself sits in the Group 3 category of drones, but its performance is designed to rival much larger Group 4 and Group 5 systems. Reporting on the deal notes that the California company is set to deliver next-generation unmanned aircraft systems with combat-proven technology to a neighbor of China, and that the V-BAT’s vertical takeoff and landing design allows it to operate from tight forward positions while still carrying sophisticated sensors and communications payloads, according to a China neighbor overview. For Indian planners, that combination of agility, endurance and autonomy is attractive along a mountainous border where runways are scarce and communications are vulnerable.
From Ukraine to the Himalayas: why “combat-proven” matters
What sets this transfer apart is that the V-BAT and its Hivemind brain are not experimental concepts but systems that have already been tested in real combat. Shield AI made its name in the Ukraine conflict, where its autonomous technologies were used to help forces operate drones in environments saturated with electronic warfare and air defenses, as highlighted in coverage of how the Indian Army ties up with the US drone company that Made its Name in the Ukraine Conflict Made its Name. For India, which expects any clash with China to feature heavy jamming and cyber attacks, that pedigree is a powerful selling point.
Shield AI’s own description of the package for India emphasizes that the V-BAT Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Hivemind Autonomy Software are being tailored for India, in India, a phrase that signals both customization and local integration of lessons learned on other battlefields. The company notes that the Indian Army will receive not only aircraft but also licences for its proprietary autonomy stack, giving New Delhi a degree of control over how the drones are used and upgraded, according to the Shield AI Selected announcement. In a region where China has invested heavily in its own swarming and loitering munitions, India is effectively buying into a rival ecosystem that has already been blooded in Europe.
Rare tech transfer: India’s push to build US-origin drones at home
The V-BAT deliveries are only one piece of a broader shift in how India sources and builds its unmanned arsenal. New Delhi is also moving toward a rare technology transfer arrangement that would allow it to produce US-origin combat drones domestically, rather than relying solely on imports. Reporting on this emerging deal notes that India is nearing a significant agreement with Shield AI that goes beyond acquisition and into local manufacturing of V-BAT combat drones, with the collaboration framed as a step change in defence industrial cooperation between India and the United States, according to India set.
One of the most concrete indicators of that ambition is the planned joint venture with JSW Group, which is expected to invest $90 m over two years, including $65 m in the first 12 months, to build up local production capacity for these systems, as detailed in a related account of how India is set to build US-origin combat drones at home in a rare tech transfer deal with JSW Group committing $90 million and $65 million in phased funding $90 million. For India, the combination of imported V-BATs, licences for autonomy software and a pathway to local manufacturing suggests a long-term bet on Shield AI’s architecture as a counterweight to Chinese drone exports across Asia.
US drone makers fan out across Asia as China’s threat grows
The Shield AI–India partnership is part of a wider surge of US drone makers into Asian markets that feel increasingly exposed to Chinese power. Companies like Anduril are opening offices in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, and have already sold Altius loitering munitions to at least one Asia-Pacific customer, according to an analysis of how US drone makers are targeting Asia amid a rising China threat that highlights Anduril’s valuation and regional footprint in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and its Altius line Anduril. Another US firm, Neros, which has a Marine Corps contract for its small Archer quadcopter attack drone, is looking to establish factories in South and an unnamed Asia-Pacific country, underscoring how production lines themselves are moving closer to potential flashpoints, as noted in coverage of how Neros and its Archer system are seeking Asia sales and local plants Neros.
US-based Kratos Defense and Taiwan’s military have also successfully tested a new jet-powered attack drone, the Mighty Hornet IV, in cooperation with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), a project explicitly aimed at rapidly boosting the island’s ability to counter China, according to reporting on how Kratos Defense and Taiwan are teaming up on this system Kratos Defense and. When viewed alongside the V-BAT sale to India, these moves suggest a coordinated pattern: US firms are not just selling drones into Asia, they are embedding themselves in local ecosystems, sharing technology and, in some cases, co-developing platforms that are explicitly framed as counters to China’s growing arsenal.
Strategic stakes for India, China and the US
For India, the arrival of V-BAT drones and the associated autonomy licences is about more than matching Chinese hardware. It is a way to plug into a US-led network of unmanned systems that can share data, tactics and software updates across multiple theaters, from Europe to the Indo-Pacific. The fact that a California company is set to deliver unmanned aircraft systems with combat-proven tech to a China neighbor, and specifically to supply V-BATs to the Indian Army, underscores how Washington is willing to let frontline partners tap into some of its most advanced unmanned capabilities, as described in a detailed account of the US firm’s plan to supply V-BATs to the Indian Army to supply V-BATs. That, in turn, tightens strategic alignment between New Delhi and Washington at a time when both see Beijing as their primary long-term rival.
