Nirmala Sitharaman Meets Shield AI President in Chicago

Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman met Brandon Tseng, Co-founder and President of Shield AI, in Chicago, USA, to discuss opportunities for strengthening India–US cooperation in advanced defence technologies.

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. @nsitharaman met Mr. Brandon Tseng, Co-founder & President, Shield AI, in Chicago, USA, yesteday.

The discussions focused on Shield AI’s engagement with India and opportunities to deepen cooperation in AI-enabled autonomy,… pic.twitter.com/250mnDRxSa

— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) August 29, 2026

The discussions focused on Shield AI’s engagement with India and potential collaboration in AI-enabled autonomy, unmanned systems and next-generation defence technologies. Areas explored included research and development, technology development, co-development and co-production.

Sitharaman highlighted India’s rapidly expanding defence technology ecosystem, strong engineering and artificial intelligence talent, and growing capabilities in advanced manufacturing and innovation.

The Finance Minister emphasised that India has the potential to serve not only as a major market for advanced defence technologies but also as a global hub for developing, testing and manufacturing autonomous defence systems.

The meeting also explored deeper India–US cooperation in AI-powered autonomous platforms and unmanned aerial systems, with co-development and co-production emerging as key areas of opportunity.

The engagement reflects growing efforts to strengthen the India–US strategic technology partnership, particularly in emerging defence technologies where artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing are increasingly important.