The Life of AVEN ® — How a 1990s F-16 Thrust-Vectoring Nozzle Became the Key to X-BAT’s Vertical Takeoff

Every piece of disruptive technology in history has a life story. For X-BAT, that story begins nearly forty years before its conception with the development of a unique propulsion technology. AVEN®, or the Axisymmetric Vectoring Exhaust Nozzle, is the thrust-vectoring engine nozzle that lets Shield AI’s X-BAT launch and land vertically without a runway.