China targets US runway, responds by developing new AI fighter jet

Analysts say China has developed a cold-blooded strategy for war with the United States: Destroy American warplanes before they land.

In almost every modern conflict, the first move is to disable enemy aircraft on the ground. When Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear sites earlier this year, it started by destroying an Iranian runway – grounding it before taking off on Tehran’s air force. Russia and Ukraine have done the same in their ongoing wars, targeting airfields to cripple enemy aircraft. And when India clashed with Pakistan, the opening salvo hit Pakistani air bases.

Beijing has taken this lesson to heart. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Years have been spent building an arsenal of long-range precision missiles – such as “carrier killers” such as the DF-21D and DF-26 – capable of destroying US aircraft carriers and attacking American airfields across the Pacific. The goal: put US air power out of range before it launches.

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Shield AI unveils its X-BAT AI fighter jet.

Now, a US defense technology company says it has devised a way to fight back. Shield AI, based in San Diego, has unveiled a new AI-piloted fighter jet designed to operate without a runway, without GPS and without a constant communication link – a plane that can think, fly and fight on its own.

Shield AI says the jet, called the X-BAT, can take off vertically, reach 50,000 feet, fly more than 2,000 nautical miles and conduct strike or air defense missions using an onboard autonomy system known as Hivemind. It’s designed to operate from ships, small islands or improvised sites — places where conventional jets can’t. The aircraft’s dash speed remains classified.

“China has created this anti-access aerial denial bubble that threatens our runways,” Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, said in an interview with Fox News. “They basically said, ‘We’re not going to have a stealth-on-stealth competition in the air — we’re going to target your aircraft before it lands.'”

The jet launches vertically, and three X-BATs can fit into the space of a legacy fighter or helicopter.

According to Harris, the US has spent decades developing stealth and survivability in the air while keeping its forces vulnerable on the ground. “The way to solve that problem is mobility,” he said. “You’re always moving. It’s the only VTOL fighter being built today.”

The X-BAT’s Hivemind autonomy allows it to operate in denied or jammed environments, where conventional aircraft would be blind. The system uses onboard sensors to interpret its surroundings, reroute threats and identify targets in real time. “It’s reading and reacting to the environment,” Harris said. “It doesn’t fly a pre-programmed route. If new threats appear, it can reroute itself or identify a target and then ask a human for permission to engage.”

That human element, he emphasized, is essential. “It’s very important to us that a human being is always involved in the decision to use lethal force,” Harris said. “That doesn’t mean the person has to be in the cockpit — it can be remote or assigned by tasking — but there will always be a human decision-maker.”

3 X-BAT fighters can fit into the space of a conventional fighter jet or helicopter, the company said. (Shield AI)

Shield AI says the X-BAT will be combat-ready by 2029 and is designed to offer fifth- or sixth-generation performance at a fraction of the cost of manned fighter jets. The aircraft’s compact footprint allows three X-BATs to fit in the deck space of a single legacy fighter or helicopter, giving commanders greater flexibility in deploying from confined spaces.

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The AI ​​fighter jet design will be capable of vertical flight over sea, mobile or solid ground. (Shield AI)

While Shield AI doesn’t disclose specific figures, the company says the X-BAT costs about the same as the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Autonomous Wingmen Flying alongside — and eventually — ahead of manned fighters. Prices vary depending on mission systems and configurations, but the company’s goal is to increase production to keep the jet affordable and sustainable throughout its life, following what it calls a traditional “fighter cost curve.”

The company predicts the aircraft will offer a tenfold improvement in cost over fifth-generation jets like the F-35, while remaining “affordable and attractive” enough to take on high-end combat risks.

Designed with a possible Indo-Pacific conflict in mind, which would require maneuvering over small island chains. (Shield AI)

Shield AI is in discussions with both the Air Force and Navy, along with several allied forces, about integrating X-BAT into future combat programs and exploring joint development opportunities.

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Harris said the company sees the X-BAT as part of a generational shift toward distributed air power — mirroring what SpaceX has done in space. “Historically, the United States has had a small number of very capable, very expensive satellites,” he said. “Then you had SpaceX come in and put out hundreds of small, cheap ones. The same thing is happening in air power. There’s always a role for manned platforms, but over time, unmanned systems will outnumber them ten-to-one or twenty-one-to-one.”

For Harris, that shift is around Restoring restrictions through flexibility. “X-BAT presents an asymmetric dilemma to an adversary like China,” he said. “They don’t know where it’s coming from, and the cost of resisting it is high. It’s an important part of a broader joint force that becomes significantly more lethal.