Successful flight demonstration of mission autonomy developed for unmanned aircraft – Utilizing the AI development environment provided by Hivemind Enterprise in partnership with U.S. Shield AI –

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has successfully demonstrated mission autonomous flight using AI developed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), using the Hivemind Enterprise AI development environment provided by U.S.-based Shield AI Inc. (SAI Inc.). The entire process, from developing the AI to installing and flying the UAV, was completed in just eight weeks.

During development to date, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has built and maintained an environment that utilizes multiple open source products in order to conduct in-house coding, AI training, simulation evaluation, and HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) testing (Note), which required a great deal of effort. In contrast, leveraging Hivemind Enterprise for this project allows us to focus more on developing mission autonomy.

Development of mission autonomy for this flight demonstration began in September 2025, and flight demonstrations were conducted on November 7th at a proving ground in Inashiki District, Ibaraki Prefecture, and on December 18th at a proving ground in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture. Specifically, the AI was completed through preliminary AI training, simulation evaluation, and HIL testing, and was installed on an ARMD (Affordable Rapid-prototyping Mitsubishi-Drone Initiative) UAV, which took to the skies for a successful flight demonstration.

Mission autonomy is a key technology shaping UAV operations in Japan, and MHI believes domestic production is essential. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Color Technology Research Institute will strengthen their collaboration based on the rapid development of this Japanese-made mission autonomous system and further accelerate mission autonomous development.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will utilize the latest AI technology to solve various issues through UAVs and contribute to the realization of a safe, secure, and comfortable society.