European company Destinus, which supplies cruise missiles and rocket-drones to Ukraine, and the U.S. company Shield AI, known for its combat artificial intelligence and V-Bat drones, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
Under this agreement, Shield AI's combat AI Hivemind will be integrated into Destinus's long-range strike weapon Ruta and its Hornet anti-drone interceptor drones. The partnership is explicitly aimed at strengthening Ukraine. As stated in the official announcement:
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"By combining Shield AI's combat-proven autonomy with Destinus's industrial-scale production in Europe, this partnership accelerates the delivery of AI-enabled unmanned systems to Ukraine and strengthens Europe's overall defense posture."
With Hivemind integrated, Destinus's launched cruise missiles will be able to share information in flight, adapt to changing conditions, coordinate their actions, and form a tightly integrated and highly effective reconnaissance-strike system.
Testing the combination of long-range weapons and combat AI is planned for 2026.
As a reminder, Destinus's Ruta had already undergone successful tests in Ukraine as of December 2024. The company even referred to last year as the period when Ruta began deliveries to Ukraine. Still, the publicly available description of this miniature cruise missile or rocket-drone remains limited. What is known is that it has a range of 300 km. The warhead weight has not been disclosed, but it is unlikely to be measured in hundreds of kilograms.
The Hornet, meanwhile, is positioned primarily as an anti-drone interceptor and is currently undergoing demonstration trials in Spain. However, its specifications also remain undisclosed.
From Defense Express's perspective, Shield AI's Hivemind can be effectively applied to both Destinus systems despite their radically different roles.
For Ruta, modern AI algorithms can improve navigation accuracy, resistance to electronic warfare, air-defense evasion and penetration, as well as enable autonomous task redistribution and target selection.
For Hornet, these same algorithms will enhance target prioritization, filter out false targets, and reduce reaction time for the entire system.
Hivemind is already integrated into theV-Bat reconnaissance drone, which has been used in Ukraine initially for entirely classified missions. The same AI system is also at the core of Shield AIs new development: the X-bat, a jet-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone-fighter.
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