Shield AI, Sentient Vision collaborate on AI-enabled wide-area imagery

Under the plan the companies will offer the system to the Australian DoD and US DoD as well as international customers through joint development and integration of ViDAR-enabled, wide-area-search capability onto Shield AI’s V-BAT unmanned aircraft. This will enable V-BAT to intelligently classify, track and read and react to targets in dynamic missions.

ViDAR is Sentient’s AI system, which uses an EO/IR sensor to detect and classify targets that would be invisible to a human operator or a conventional radar. With these enhanced capabilities in detection, V-BAT will offer a level of capability that significantly bolsters threat deterrence. It is planned to fly ViDAR on V-BAT in 2024.

ViDAR is already in use on UAVs, notably it has been deployed on Royal Australian Navy Insitu ScanEagles, and other platforms. The Kestrel ViDAR system is part of the sensor suite for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s  Challenger 604 SAR jet aircraft.

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Sentient has worked with Insitu since as far back as 2015 when, during a demonstration, the system detected objects including a fast boat over 9nmi away from the aircraft and a fishing vessel at 14nmi.

V-BAT 128 has been ordered by Canada and Brazil with deliveries to both countries believed to have begun. The V-BAT 118 is in the running to meet the US Army’s requirement to procure a Future Tactical UAS to replace the Textron Systems RQ-7Bv2 Shadow.

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

V-Bat 128