Helsing is Europe's leading defence AI company, founded in 2021 in Munich by Gundbert Scherf, Torsten Reil, and Niklas Köhler. The company builds AI-powered software and autonomous systems designed to protect democracies across air, land, sea, and space domains. Its flagship Altra platform fuses sensor data from drones, radar, satellites, cameras, and other sources into a single real-time operational picture, enabling faster and more accurate battlefield decision-making. Other products include the HX-2 AI-guided strike drone (GPS-independent, swarm-capable, 100 km range), the Centaur autonomous AI pilot (tested on a Saab Gripen E), the Cirra AI electronic warfare system for Eurofighter, the SG-1 Fathom underwater surveillance glider, and the CA-1 Europa autonomous combat aircraft under development.

Helsing operates a software-first approach, partnering with governments and hardware manufacturers across Europe—including Saab, Rheinmetall, Kongsberg, and HENSOLDT—to integrate AI into existing military platforms. The company has been actively deployed in Ukraine since 2022, delivering thousands of HX-2 and HF-1 strike drones to front-line units. Key government contracts include an initial €269 million Bundeswehr deal for HX-2 loitering munitions (with a framework up to €1.46 billion), and integration of its Cirra AI into the Eurofighter ECR.

Helsing has expanded rapidly beyond software into hardware and manufacturing, opening Resilience Factories in southern Germany and Plymouth (UK), and announcing its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia, targeting production of over 2,000 HX-2 drones per month. In May 2026 it established the KIRK joint venture with OHB, Kongsberg, and HENSOLDT for a space-based tactical surveillance and targeting constellation. As of mid-2026, Helsing employs over 1,000 people across offices in Munich, London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, and Stockholm, and is valued at $18 billion following its Series E.