Defense tech company Helsing to produce 6,000 additional strike drones for Ukraine

The company is also planning to build multiple ”Resilience Factories” across Europe, to provide countries with local and sovereign manufacturing capacities.
The company's HX-2 attack drone, photo via Helsing.
The company’s HX-2 attack drone, photo via Helsing.
Defense tech company Helsing to produce 6,000 additional strike drones for Ukraine

Helsing, a European defense technology company, announced that it is producing 6,000 HX-2 attack drones with artificial intelligence for delivery to Ukraine.

These relatively low-cost, swarm-capable drones – immune to electronic warfare thanks to onboard AI – could help address Ukraine’s numerical disadvantage against Russian forces. Furthermore, the establishment of “Resilience Factories” across Europe, capable of producing thousands of units monthly, also signals a broader strategic move to strengthen European defense manufacturing independence and rapid-response capabilities.

As can be evidenced from the official announcement on the company’s website, the HX-2 is an electrically-powered, high-precision X-wing strike drone with a range of up to 100 kilometers. It is enhanced with on-board artificial intelligence that provides full immunity to electronic warfare.

Another feature is that operating as part of Helsing’s reconnaissance and strike software (Altra), multiple HX-2s can be combined into swarms controlled by a single human operator.

The company notes that the HX-2 has been designed to be mass-producible and at significantly lower unit cost than conventional systems, thus filling a growing capability gap in modern land warfare.

Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing, said: “We are scaling up production of HX-2 in response to additional orders from Ukraine, where precision mass is offsetting a numerical disadvantage in legacy systems on a daily basis. It is clear that NATO has important lessons to learn, and fast.”

This announcement follows a previous order of 4,000 HF-1 strike drones which are currently being delivered to Ukraine, in partnership with Ukrainian industry.

Building ”Resilience Factories” across Europe

In addition, Helsing is announcing the completion of the first so-called ”Resilience Factory” in Southern Germany.

According to the company, Resilience Factories are Helsing’s high-efficiency production facilities designed to provide nation states with local and sovereign manufacturing capacities.

Helsing is set to build Resilience Factories across the European continent, with the ability to scale manufacturing rates to tens of thousands of units in case of a conflict. The first Resilience Factory (RF-1) is operational in Southern Germany and has an initial monthly production capacity of more than 1,000 HX-2.

Related:

You could close this page. Or you could join our community and help us produce more materials like this.  We keep our reporting open and accessible to everyone because we believe in the power of free information. This is why our small, cost-effective team depends on the support of readers like you to bring deliver timely news, quality analysis, and on-the-ground reports about Russia's war against Ukraine and Ukraine's struggle to build a democratic society. A little bit goes a long way: for as little as the cost of one cup of coffee a month, you can help build bridges between Ukraine and the rest of the world, plus become a co-creator and vote for topics we should cover next. Become a patron or see other ways to support. Become a Patron!

To suggest a correction or clarification, write to us here

You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter

Please leave your suggestions or corrections here



    Euromaidan Press

    We are an independent media outlet that relies solely on advertising revenue to sustain itself. We do not endorse or promote any products or services for financial gain. Therefore, we kindly ask for your support by disabling your ad blocker. Your assistance helps us continue providing quality content. Thank you!