Ukraine orders 6,000 loitering munitions from Germany’s Helsing
“This new batch [of HX-2 loitering munitions] positions Helsing among the largest strike drone manufacturers in the world,” said the company.
An international donor has agreed to fund Ukraine’s order of 6,000 Helsing manufactured and AI-enabled HX-2 loitering munitions (Helsing)
MUNICH — Funded by an undisclosed international donor, Ukraine has placed an order with a leading European defense startup for production of 6,000 AI-enabled platforms, in a bid to significantly increase the war ravaged nation’s loitering munitions inventory.
The acquisition of Germany’s Helsing HX-2 one way attack drones coincides with a newly opened, first-of-its-kind production facility in southern Germany, dubbed RF-1, said the company in a translated company statement released on Thursday. The abbreviation stands for Resilience Factory.
A Helsing spokesperson told Breaking Defense today that the HX-2 international donor “will make” a future announcement about underwriting funding for the order.
“This new batch [of HX-2 loitering munitions] positions Helsing among the largest strike drone manufacturers in the world,” said the company in its statement.
The new production site, it added, will “initially” support production of 1,000 HX-2 aircraft per month, suggesting capacity can be increased if further demand merits a ramp up.
“Helsing has the ambition to deploy Resilience Factories across the European continent, with the ability to scale up production to tens of thousands of units in the event of conflict,” it noted.
Ukraine previously ordered 4,000 HX-2 aircraft, said the Helsing spokesperson.
The AI capabilities of the platform make it resistant to electronic warfare detection and it has been designed to strike artillery and armored targets out to a range of 100km, according to a product profile.
Additionally, the integration of Helsing’s Altra reconnaissance and strike software enable deployment of HX-2 drone swarm formations.
“The HX-2 has been designed to be produced in large quantities and at a unit cost significantly lower than traditional systems, filling a growing gap in modern land warfare capabilities,” the company added.
Loitering munitions have been a common feature of the war in Ukraine, offering combat mass at relatively low cost and short production cycles. Others that have arrived on the frontline include US Switchblades and French OSKAR (Opportunity Strike Kinetics Aircraft Ruggedised) systems.
The startup has quickly made a distinctive mark on the European defense market by securing key contracts for the AI “backbone” of the French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System (SCAF), cooperating with Airbus on the Wingman future unmanned aircraft concept and is under contract to deliver a new AI-enabled electronic warfare platform as part of Saab’s wider effort to integrate Arexis sensor equipment package on German Eurofighter EK (Electronic Combat) fighter jets.
