Shield AI Together With Ukrainian Iron Belly Created Attack Drone With Optical Navigation

The American company Shield AI, together with the Ukrainian company Iron Belly, has created a D4 long-range attack drone with optical navigation and automatic targeting.

Austin Howard, a representative of Shield AI, told Militarnyi about the new product at Defense Tech Valley 2025.

According to Austin, the D4 strike drone has a flight range of 100 km and carries a payload of 3 kg. A unique feature of the drone is that it relies on optical navigation and can reach and engage a target completely autonomously after launch.

In order to build the route, it can use, among other things, images obtained with the V-BAT reconnaissance drone manufactured by Shield AI.

“We can upload an image of the target with its location, and the system will autonomously navigate using a combination of beacons and visual navigation to the target. At about 5-10 km, the drone will lock onto the target. So you don’t need GPS, you don’t need communication – it will find the target and hit it,” Howard says.

The companies are currently working on seamlessly integrating the drone with intelligence platforms for additional capabilities such as warning, communications, and relay to redirect the drone during the flight.

D4 is currently in the field testing phase of the system, which has been underway for the past month.

“This system has been validated and will be deployed on the front line

Current production volumes are around 500-1,000 units per month, and the companies are working on scaling up to 1,000 units per month.

In January 2025, the American Shield AI drone manufacturer opened an office in Kyiv to provide full support for Ukraine’s fleet of MQ-35A V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing drones.

The company has also announced the start of training for the Unmanned Systems Forces to operate the V-BAT drones.

“To fully support the Ukrainian forces, Shield AI has opened an office in Kyiv, establishing a local presence in Ukraine with a team of engineers, mission operations personnel and technical specialists,” the company said at the time.