AI Is Giving Military Drones More Autonomy on the Battlefield

Military.com ^ | May 16, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | Haley Fuller

[E. Pluribus Unum]

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.

A Human-Guided Approach to Autonomy

XTEND’s model sits somewhere between full manual control and fully autonomous decision-making. Shapira emphasized that humans still give the mission intent, while the software manages the execution. That matters in military and law enforcement contexts, where “autonomy” can raise concerns about machines making lethal decisions on their own.

“We’re always going to leave the human for giving the intention,” Shapira said. “Humans will always define mission intent and retain decision authority.” The company’s public materials use similar language, describing XOS as a system that preserves “full human command authority...”

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TOPICS: Military/Veterans
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[Brian Griffin]

There are going to be lots of dummies and raincoats on the battlefields.

[allendale]

The country that develops the best pilotless, stealthy drones with precision guidance and the best counter drone electronics technology wins. Piloted aircraft will soon no longer be the tip of the sword.

[Celtic Conservative]

Paging Skynet, Skynet please pick up the white courtesy phone...

CC

[sauropod]

.

[panzerkamphwageneinz]

piloted, heat seekers, movement detection, no place to hide, in every size, in every format, it is the book of revelation writ large.

[BenLurkin]

[Svartalfiar]

Don’t one of the late-night comedians or the Bee or dictionary.com do a yearly thing of the most overused words? “Intersection” has to be top two on that list...