Overview
- The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, which announced the move Tuesday, chose Shield AI’s Hivemind to run the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System.
- Hivemind will act as the AI pilot that lets many LUCAS drones coordinate as a group under one operator, with a human retaining control over any strike decision.
- Shield AI says an operational demonstration is planned for the fall that will show one person commanding a swarm of autonomous LUCAS drones.
- LUCAS is a roughly $35,000 one-way attack drone modeled on Iran’s Shahed-136, and CENTCOM has acknowledged the use of a new one-way drone after strikes on Iran.
- The effort fits the Defense Department’s Drone Dominance and DAWG plans, which outline about $55 billion for drones and autonomy in fiscal 2027, and neither the Pentagon nor Shield AI released contract financial details.