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AI Is Giving Military Drones More Autonomy on the Battlefield
AI Is Giving Military Drones More Autonomy on the BattlefieldMilitary.com
XTEND CEO Aviv Shapira says the future of drones is not really about drones. It is about software.
In an interview with Military.com, Shapira described XTEND as a company operating “at the intersection between AI and robotics,” building an operating system that allows humans to direct complex robotic missions remotely without manually flying drones or controlling robots. The company’s core product, XOS, is designed to let operators give mission-level commands while artificial intelligence handles much of the flying, navigation and coordination. XTEND describes XOS as a hardware-agnostic operating system that connects platforms, payloads, autonomy and human operators into one mission environment. “For us, it’s all about not flying the drone, but telling it what to do,” Shapira said in the interview. “It’s moving from piloting to commanding.”
That distinction matters because modern drone warfare and public safety operations increasingly require operators to manage more machines in more complex environments. Shapira said most of the market still relies on manual control, while XTEND is trying to reduce the cognitive load by allowing operators to command drones through mission intent.
Instead of steering a drone left or right, an operator might tell it to enter a building, clear an area, identify threats, or support a standoff response.
...
In an interview with Military.com, Shapira described XTEND as a company operating “at the intersection between AI and robotics,” building an operating system that allows humans to direct complex robotic missions remotely without manually flying drones or controlling robots. The company’s core product, XOS, is designed to let operators give mission-level commands while artificial intelligence handles much of the flying, navigation and coordination. XTEND describes XOS as a hardware-agnostic operating system that connects platforms, payloads, autonomy and human operators into one mission environment. “For us, it’s all about not flying the drone, but telling it what to do,” Shapira said in the interview. “It’s moving from piloting to commanding.”
That distinction matters because modern drone warfare and public safety operations increasingly require operators to manage more machines in more complex environments. Shapira said most of the market still relies on manual control, while XTEND is trying to reduce the cognitive load by allowing operators to command drones through mission intent.
Instead of steering a drone left or right, an operator might tell it to enter a building, clear an area, identify threats, or support a standoff response.
...