Leonardo UK has signed an agreement with U.S.-based Shield AI to integrate the HIVEMIND autonomy software on PROTEUS, the uncrewed helicopter developed by the company’s British arm for (and with) the Royal Navy.
Through the HIVEMIND Software Development Kit (SDK), the 2 companies will integrate the software so that Leonardo engineers can develop and adapt, in-house, new capabilities tailored specifically to PROTEUS. These range from anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to logistics operations in contested environments. The goal is to enable flight and mission execution under degraded, disrupted, intermittent, limited or fully denied communications.
The HIVEMIND architecture is designed to be “open”: partners can develop, integrate, test and update the autonomous capabilities of their own platforms, either fixed-wing or rotary-wing, based on their mission profiles, while retaining ownership of what they build and the ability to adapt it independently.
PROTEUS is currently an uncrewed VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) technology demonstrator, developed by Leonardo with the Royal Navy and UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) under Phase 3B of the Rotary Wing Uncrewed Air System (RWUAS) program.
The aircraft features a large modular payload bay that can carry a payload of around 1 t (or 2 standard NATO 463L pallets), so it can be configured for ASW, airborne early warning (AEW) or intra-theater logistics missions. After a series of demonstrations in fully synthetic operational scenarios, PROTEUS made its first flight in early 2026 with autonomy capabilities designed by Leonardo, which HIVEMIND will now help develop further.
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