{"id":41226,"date":"2026-05-21T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aerospaceglobalnews.com\/?p=41226"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:01:36","slug":"us-lucas-drones-shield-ai-hivemind-swarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aerospaceglobalnews.com\/news\/us-lucas-drones-shield-ai-hivemind-swarm\/","title":{"rendered":"US upgrades LUCAS drones with Shield AI Hivemind for intelligent swarming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having been impressed by the LUCAS’s performance in Iran, the US is now working to upgrade its low-cost LUCAS Shahed-style drones into an intelligent swarm. It has awarded a contract to Shield AI<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to incorporate its Hivemind ‘brain,’ which will transform the drone’s effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n

Shield AI Hivemind selected for LUCAS drone swarms<\/h2>\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the US defence-tech company, Shield AI<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, announced it had been selected to integrate its Hivemind autonomy software onto the US military’s new Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"LUCAS
Photo: CENTCOM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LUCAS is a reverse-engineered Shahed-type one-way attack drone that the US initially built as a target drone, but then pushed into service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brandon Tseng, the co-founder of Shield AI, notes, “LUCAS is about delivering affordable mass, but mass without coordination is limited in value.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shield AI proclaimed, “The effort marks a major step toward operationalising collaborative autonomy:\u00a0 teams of autonomous systems working together in dynamic and communications-constrained environments under the supervision of a single operator.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. So when CENTCOM\u2019s Adm. Brad Cooper calls the new U.S. LUCAS drone \u201cindispensable,\u201d he is paying Iran and its cheap Shahed-136 a massive compliment. It is also a wild shift in perspective: the world\u2019s most advanced air force,\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/H1a4xl82Zz<\/a><\/p>— Air Power (@RealAirPower1) March 16, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>