Germany has confirmed that the Helsing drones have been thoroughly tested and pre-certified for use by Ukraine. Before, little was known about them, which has changed now.
Germany has confirmed that the Helsing drones have been thoroughly tested and pre-certified for use by Ukraine. Before, little was known about them, which has changed now.
Helsing, one of Europe’s biggest defense companies, is offering its new drone to Ukraine and other NATO allies and says they «don’t have much time.» Bloomberg writes about this with reference to the words of Thorsten Reil, co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing.
The company has developed an attack drone called the HX-2 that can carry munitions and navigate without a pilot or GPS.
In an interview, Rail said that connecting these drones through software to other weapons, tanks and artillery systems «has the potential to create a level of deterrence that is simply not possible now.»
However, co-CEO Helsing added that the company has not yet signed any contracts for the new strike drone. On November 18, the spokesman of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin reported that the Federal Government is preparing to hand over 4,000 armed drones to Ukraine. In addition, it was known that the German development company Helsing had a contract for 4,000 so-called attack drones, which was concluded with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in September.
The company has previously been tight-lipped about the specifics of its products and services and only recently decided to lift the curtain.
The HX-2 drone is an autonomous AI-enabled system designed to balance availability with operational precision and scalability, Ukdefencejournal writes, citing a company statement. It was launched at the Honorable Ordnance Company in London with Defense Secretary John Healy.
As reported on the company’s website, the HX-2 is capable of hitting artillery, armored and other military targets at a range beyond direct line of sight.
The drone looks like an X-shaped wing with a tail, equipped with four electric motors with pulling propellers instead of one pushing one.
Built-in artificial intelligence makes the HX-2 electronic warfare (EW) resistant through its ability to seek, re-identify and engage targets even without a signal or continuous data link. However, all critical decisions are made by a human operator.
Technical characteristics of the drone:
The weight of the warhead can vary by several kilograms. The developer declares the presence of a cumulative charge, but other types of warhead may be installed.
The startup aims to produce tens of thousands of HX-2 drones a year, selling them at lower prices than similar unmanned strike machines already on the market. Rail did not reveal production plans or pricing, but said the devices will be made without Chinese components. Ultimately, the company believes that the escalation of military tensions will lead to increased demand for thousands of these unmanned aerial vehicles in Ukraine and on Europe’s border with Russia.
Helsing began working on drones in late 2023 and will later produce more hardware devices, Rail added.
Munich-based company Helsing, which develops Battlefield AI software, was founded in 2021. The co-founders are Torsten Reil (who trained as a biologist and previously founded a gaming company called NaturalMotion), Gundbert Scherf, a former special advisor to the German Federal Ministry of Defense, and Niklas Köhler, president and chief product officer who previously founded a deep learning company called Hellsicht. In 2017, it became part of Helsing.
To date, it has raised over $820 million for PitchBook. The Series C round, announced in July this year, valued the defense technology at €4.95 billion.
Among the investors were, in particular, solo venture capital Elad Gil, Accel, Saab, Lightspeed, Plural, Greenoaks and Spotify co-founder Daniel Eck, as well as Prima Materia investment firm Shakil Khan.
Helsing has about 350 people at headquarters in Germany, France and the UK, Sifted said. Helsing is also hiring, with nearly 40 job openings posted on its website.
The company generally develops artificial intelligence software for use on the battlefield, using data obtained from sensors and cameras in the field. Helsing says it has been working in Ukraine since 2022, and the startup has secured a place in the record contract program — a pre-approved and budgeted bucket of money for a certain defense capability.
