A female officer from the Romanian Naval Forces, injured in Texas during an exercise with a V-BAT drone

An exercise held last month in Texas, USA, to test V-BAT reconnaissance drones produced by the American startup Shield AI, resulted in the injury of a woman, an officer in the Romanian Naval Forces, Reuters reveals.

The incident took place on May 12 and has not been disclosed until now.

The Romanian woman's hand was caught in a V-BAT propeller during a Shield AI training exercise on a boat off the coast of Texas, Reuters writes, citing a spokesman for the Romanian Ministry of Defense.

Elicea cut off two of the woman's fingers, and another was fractured. She underwent finger reattachment operations on May 12 and 16 at the University Medical Center in New Orleans, according to MApN, cited by Reuters.

Her condition later deteriorated, and the woman was transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, where she remained on May 25.

Shield AI said the May 12 incident was caused by “a violation of established safety procedures, not a product defect,” without specifying which violation.

The MApN told Reuters it was investigating the incident and that it was premature to draw conclusions about blame or whether the incident could have been prevented.

Shield AI, contract with Romania for 30 million dollars

Shield AI, based in San Diego, California, develops drones and AI-based technology for defense operations. The company collaborates with the US Armed Forces and international allies, including Romania.

The Romanian Naval Forces last year signed a $30 million agreement with Shield AI for the V-BAT. That contract remained in force, according to Reuters.

Shield AI is valued at around $12.7 billion and has become one of Silicon Valley's largest defense technology companies. A V-BAT drone costs about $1 million.

The incident in which the Romanian woman from the Naval Forces was involved is in the context of Shield AI trying to overcome years of technical problems and concerns about the safety of the V-BAT drone, according to Reuters interviews with 21 former employees, industry executives and investors.

Reuters writes that the V-BAT drone has crashed more than 50 times in the past 18 months during tests, and several staff members who raised safety concerns have been fired.

Shield AI is accused of also hiding technical deficiencies in the V-BAT drone to obtain military contracts, according to a complaint filed in May with the US Labor Department's Office of Administrative Law Judges and seen by Reuters.