# Brandon Tseng

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/builders/brandon-tseng/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 5 moments of Brandon Tseng (President & co-founder, Shield AI) talking, from an interview on The Shawn Ryan Show published Oct 23, 2025.

- Role: President & co-founder, Shield AI
- About: Co-founded Shield AI, maker of autonomous V-BAT drones and AI pilots flying F-16s; former Navy SEAL.
- Company: [Shield AI](https://realalpha.app/companies/#shield-ai)
- On X: https://x.com/brandontseng2

## What Brandon Tseng said

- [X-BAT aims to deliver fighter capability without runways](https://realalpha.app/s/x-bat-aims-to-deliver-fighter-capability-without-runways/)
  The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025 · 7 min
  > “We're targeting $27.5 million per pop on it with a $6,000 per hour operating cost for the aircraft.” — Brandon Tseng · [1:57:54](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/?t=7074)
- [Autonomous systems learn through simulation and reward](https://realalpha.app/s/autonomous-systems-learn-through-simulation-and-reward/)
  The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025 · 5 min
  > “you basically give it a goal and then behaviors that you believe are positive, you reinforce those behaviors, you reward those behaviors.” — Brandon Tseng · [1:19:36](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/?t=4776)
- [Shield AI can integrate an AI pilot with three engineers in three months](https://realalpha.app/s/shield-ai-can-integrate-an-ai-pilot-with-three-engineers-in/)
  The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025 · 3 min
  > “we can now do, with a couple hundred thousand dollars, three engineers in three months” — Brandon Tseng · [1:42:58](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/?t=6178)
- [Shield AI moved beyond a small quadcopter market](https://realalpha.app/s/shield-ai-moved-beyond-a-small-quadcopter-market/)
  The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025 · 3 min
  > “there's not real money flowing towards these quadcopter products.” — Brandon Tseng · [1:14:35](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/?t=4475)
- [V-BAT supported a major Caribbean drug interdiction](https://realalpha.app/s/v-bat-supported-a-major-caribbean-drug-interdiction/)
  The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025 · 2 min
  > “And two weeks in, I've interdicted over half a billion dollars worth of cocaine in the Caribbean Sea.” — Brandon Tseng · [6:45](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/?t=405)

## The episode

- [Brandon Tseng – Shield AI’s X-BAT: The First AI Fighter Jet to Outsmart Top Gun | SRS #247](https://realalpha.app/v/p8DjGa16PQM/) · The Shawn Ryan Show · Oct 23, 2025