Exclusive: Shield AI delivering V-BAT drones to Japan's navy early this year

• Meantime, the U.S. and Japan are drawing closer, despite recent beef over U.S. Steel.

Zoom in: The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is buying multiple V-BATs for its program of record, with deliveries beginning early this year, Shield cofounder Brandon Tseng told Axios.

• "They're building out their forces again," he said. "You can't be a $40 million drone in this day and age ... because those things are vulnerable."
• The vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone can carry dozens of pounds, fly for hundreds of nautical miles and pack into the back of a pickup truck or Black Hawk helicopter.

Flashback: The U.S. Navy launched a V-BAT off a Seahawk autonomous vessel during the Integrated Battle Problem exercise in 2023.

What's next: This deal could snowball in Shield's favor. Success with naval forces could easily garner attention elsewhere.

• Tseng said the deal feeds into the company's "campaign to support the Indo-Pacific region" amid China's ballooning ambitions.