Shield AI, GE Complete Vertical-Flight Nozzle for X-BAT Drone

Shield AI and GE Aerospace announced on Monday that they have successfully integrated an advanced vectoring exhaust nozzle (AVEN) into the F110-GE-129E engine destined for Shield AI's X-BAT drone fighter jet. The integration includes actuation and engine light-off testing. The AVEN—an Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle—is the key propulsion component that enables X-BAT to take off and land vertically and enhances maneuverability during horizontal flight.

Shield AI's senior vice president of aircraft engineering, Armor Harris, emphasized the criticality of this integration: "X-BAT is designed to take off and land vertically from anywhere—no airbase, no runway—and that capability lives or dies with propulsion." Harris noted that the AVEN is what makes vertical flight possible on a platform of X-BAT's size and capability. He also highlighted that the company is applying the nozzle in a manner unlike its previous use: "We're applying it differently than it was ever used before. Vertical flight requires fast gimbaling to maintain attitude control, a demand the original program never had to meet." The F110-GE-129E engine itself is well-proven in legacy fighter aircraft, powering the F-16 Block 50 and F-15E/X.

The AVEN was originally developed by GE and saw flight testing in the 1990s on the F-16. For the X-BAT program, the advanced nozzle is currently undergoing ground testing in preparation for flight testing on the X-BAT prototype. Looking ahead, Shield AI plans to continue iterating on the propulsion approach to develop future versions that are faster, lighter, and more capable than the current integration.

Shield AI's X-BAT is designed around the concept of vertical takeoff and landing without requiring a runway or airbase—a fundamental operational advantage for an autonomous drone fighter. The company has long identified propulsion as the critical enabler of this capability. GE's vectoring exhaust nozzle, originally developed decades ago for traditional fighter aircraft testing, has now been adapted to meet a different technical demand: the fast gimbaling necessary to maintain pitch and roll control during vertical hover and transition flight. According to Armor Harris, Shield AI's senior vice president of aircraft engineering, this application represents a novel use case for the technology. The completion of integration and engine light-off testing marks a significant milestone in the X-BAT development timeline, transitioning the propulsion system from design and integration into validation on the ground before moving to flight trials. The next phase focuses on refinement—making the propulsion approach faster, lighter, and more capable for production versions.

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