The drone war has a new actor. The military specialist Helsing raised the veil in his new combat drone during a ceremony held in Munich. Called “Europe”, this plane is presented as a “made in Europe” product, to compete with American giants and make a place in a sector that probably becomes very competitive.
It is also a clear desire for the new company, whose headquarters is based on Munich but has offices in France and the United Kingdom.
Helsing shows an ambitious objective: a first flight for 2027 and serial products available in 2029.
An industrial association
The 1: 1 scale model that was presented is based on a plane cell made by the German manufacturer Grob, which was bought at least in June by Helsing. A paid strategy, since it allows Helsing to trust the skills of a aircraft manufacturer that already has all the necessary production capabilities, and then integrate its software solutions, driven with artificial intelligence.
Helsing explains that the plane will integrate the Centaurs system, developed internally, which has already been tested in a Wrestling plane in Saab in Saab la Past spring. This system is based on algorithms that offer “experience of the level of experienced pilots, both in tactical superiority and on the execution of maneuvers,” according to the company.
The European drone, which thus joins the family of “accompanying combat drones”, is presented as an airplane with an “open” operating system, that is, capable of integrating different types of sensors (for intelligence and surveillance missions, for example), but also armaments.
Capture markets
This industrial association allows Helsing to show its ambition “to accelerate the development of the capacity of air power,” Dixit The Company, which confirms its ambition to develop its portfolio of activities in defense and capture European markets. Helsing focuses on the construction of factories in European territory, in order to produce in mass and seeks to “Europear” its supplies as much as possible.
Helsing has multiplied the ads in recent months and their range of products includes both submarine drones and small attack drones (which equip among others the Ukrainian armed forces), as well as command and control systems or even AI for the electronic war.
When presenting its European combat drone, Helsing joins the market of accompanying drones, in which US companies are already well located. This is, for example, the case of Andundil, who presented his dron Fury in the Bourget aeronautical show last June and signed an association with the German giant Rheinmetall. Kratos and General Atomics are also in the initial blocks and have recently announced cooperation with the German industry.
Source: BFM TV
