Ukraine will allow foreign arms companies to test their latest weapons on the frontline of its war against Russian invasion, the Ukrainian state-backed Kiev-based arms investment and procurement platform "Brave1" announced this week, as quoted by Reuters and BTA.
As part of the "Test in Ukraine" program Foreign arms companies will ship their products to Kiev, conduct online training on their use, then wait for the country's armed forces to test them and send reports, the platform, which was created to support research and development by European and Ukrainian startups, said in a statement.
"This gives us an idea of what technologies are available. This gives companies an idea of what really works on the front lines," said the head of investor relations at "Brave1" Artyom Moroz told Reuters at a defense conference in the German city of Wiesbaden.
Moroz said he was very interested in the program, but did not name the companies that had agreed to use it and declined to give further details about how it would work or what costs, if any, would be involved.
More than three years after its invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces continue to advance along the 1,000-kilometer front line and have stepped up air strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine is banking on its growing defense industry, partly supported by foreign investment, to fend off Russia's larger and better-armed military machine.
The "Brave1" platform, created by the Ukrainian government in 2023 with an online center where Ukrainian defense companies can seek investment and also where Kiev's military units can order weapons, has drawn up a list of military technologies it wants to test, Moroz added.
"We have a list of priorities. One of the leading ones will be air defense, such as new capabilities for such defense, drone interceptors, artificial intelligence systems, any solutions against guided bombs," he said.
Unmanned systems on the water and radar electronic systems on land are also on Ukraine's priority list, as well as advanced fire control or guidance systems with artificial intelligence to make howitzers more accurate, Reuters noted.
Combat AI from Europe
European defense startup "Helsing" (Helsing) is changing the future of warfare with the help of artificial intelligence, and Russia's aggression against Ukraine has become a major catalyst, notes Ukrinform's Munich correspondent Vasyl Korotky.
The German defense company attracted widespread attention last fall after media reports that it planned to deliver to Ukraine 4,000 drones known as "mini-Taurus" - artificial intelligence-powered munitions that are said to be miniature versions of the German Taurus cruise missile. However, the term used by the "Bild" newspaper is misleading - the "Helsing" drones are actually unmanned munitions or "kamikaze drones", similar to the American "Switchblade" (Switchblade), not scaled-down copies of precision air-to-surface missiles.
Yet this media confusion has only increased interest in "Helsing", a European startup focused on artificial intelligence and defense software. In just four years, the German company has raised 1.3 billion euros in funding and is valued at approximately 5 billion euros, establishing itself as a leading innovator in the European defense industry.
A media day was recently held at "Helsing" headquarters in Munich. Among the participants was Ukrinform correspondent Vasyl Korotkyi, who had the opportunity to get acquainted with its activities and cooperation with Ukraine - a country whose defensive war against Russia played a decisive role in the formation of this high-tech startup.
Ukraine as a driving force - the war shifted the focus of "Helsing"
According to Niklas Köhler, co-founder of "Helsing" and an expert in machine learning and artificial intelligence, today's defense solution architecture is shaped by two main technology vectors - network-centric integration and autonomous platforms. At the beginning of the defense startup's activities, the focus was mainly on integrating software to improve the performance of existing systems - artillery, helicopters and other weapons. However, the war in Ukraine revealed that speed and adaptation to different users of weapons production are of critical importance. Drones, in particular, turned out to be the most large-scale solution.
"The war in Ukraine fundamentally changed our approach. Unmanned and autonomous systems have become a key area of attention - not only in theoretical scenarios, but also in real conditions, where life is at stake. This is no longer a training ground where you can safely integrate systems. "This is a war where people launch drones from the front line," Köhler said. "Initially, it was mostly conventional drones, but gradually militarization followed - both small and large drones appeared - on the ground, in the air and at sea. Those who follow the industry closely have witnessed this wave of innovation," he added.
Köhler noted that there is now a strong demand for small autonomous systems that can be quickly scaled up and deployed en masse, offering a significant advantage over traditional platforms, which often take years to produce.
"And "Helsing" has chosen to follow this path. "As a company fully focused on the defense sector, we must meet the requirements and needs of our users," said Köhler.
His colleague Scherf added that Ukraine is a key partner for the company and its defensive war against Russian aggression has become a "determining factor" in changing the priorities and development path of "Helsing".
"When the full-scale war in Ukraine began, our company was not even a year old. This means that we spent three-quarters of our development under the influence of the events in Ukraine," Scherf told an Ukrinform correspondent, discussing cooperation with Ukraine.
At the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, "Helsing" simply wanted to be useful where it thought it could be most effective. In response to a request from the Ukrainian side, they joined the development of a system for automated processing of large volumes of satellite radar images using artificial intelligence. "Helsing" managed to help "automate part of this process", which became the first step towards a deeper understanding of the practical needs of military operations.
This experience brought the company to a new level. About a year and a half ago, "Helsing" began to study how its technologies could be adapted to improve artillery accuracy and fire correction. However, their Ukrainian partners sent a clear message - the main priority was medium-range strike drones, capable of operating at distances of 40 km to 100 km - beyond the reach of conventional artillery and resistant to intense enemy electronic warfare.
This, in turn, sparked a new direction for the German company - the development of drones with built-in artificial intelligence algorithms.
"Helsing"'s "Smart" drones - from cooperation with Ukrainian manufacturers to their own HX-2 strike drone
Initially, the German startup focused on close cooperation with the Ukrainian drone manufacturer "Terminal Autonomy", integrating its software into an existing platform - a "flying wing" drone. The result was a new product - the HF-1 drone, the same pseudo-miniature "Taurus" mentioned earlier.
According to Zimon Bruness, a representative of "Helsing" responsible for drone operations and activities in Ukraine, 1,950 HF-1 drones have already been delivered to Ukraine - almost half of the contracted 4,000 drones. These drones are in service with several Ukrainian military units and have been successfully used in combat conditions.
"The system has the following ability - once it locks onto a target, it stays on it - despite all the enemy's electronic warfare countermeasures," said Bruness, describing the drone's operation, powered by artificial intelligence.
Later, the same software was implemented in the HX-2 - a combat drone with a distinctive double-X wing design, which was entirely developed and manufactured by "Helsing". This is the drone that the German company is now prioritizing after opening its "resilience factory" in Germany. The factory currently produces over 450 HX-2 drones per month, with capacity to be increased to 1,000 units.
Brunes notes that the HX-2 drone weighs just 12 kg, including a four-kilogram payload. It has a range of up to 120 km, a cruising speed of 80-90 km/h, and a top speed of up to 250 km/h.
These impressive hardware features are complemented by advanced software features. Thanks to a new GPS system for night flights, the drone uses a downward-facing camera that matches real-time images of the terrain with a digital map, allowing it to navigate by recognizing all the features of the landscape.
"It's like having a map while you're looking at nature. There's a mountain, then another - you see them on the map, you triangulate and determine your position. We do this with a data throughput of hundreds of terabytes per second. That's why our system is so accurate," Bruness explained.
Another new feature is the target re-identification (re-ID) system, which combines logical and visual data - time, direction of movement, coordinates and descriptive characteristics, allowing the drone to find the same target again with 99.9 percent accuracy. But the final decision to strike is always made by the human operator.
A key innovation is the concept of the so-called autonomous swarm. "Helsing"'s modular software platform, called "Altra", allows dozens of HX drones to operate as a coordinated swarm under the control of a single operator.
On the "Helsing" website, the HX-2 drone is advertised as a "new type of combat drone", immune to enemy electronic warfare. Of course, this is not entirely true - the drone is not completely immune to modern Russian electronic warfare systems. Brunes admitted this when asked by an Ukrinform correspondent whether the drone would be lost if the operator lost contact with it. He explained that on the Ukrainian front there are areas where the GPS or radio signals are jammed or completely lost, but the HX-2 is not lost - it returns to the last point of contact, which allows the operator to reassess the situation, change the mission or select a new target.
But can a drone powered by artificial intelligence, if the signal is lost, continue its mission independently, find and destroy the target?
"Technically, yes. But for now, we are not implementing this function for the Ukrainian armed forces. The reason is, as I mentioned, that we are operating on Ukrainian territory. There is a thin ethical line that we carefully observe. We want the system to remain under human control, although we have the technical ability to take a different approach," Brunes said.
In addition, autonomous guidance during the final stage - after the target has been identified, intercepted and authorized for a strike by the operator - is already being used. In such cases, even if contact is lost near the target due to interference with electronic warfare, the drone can still carry out the strike. This is a great advantage, especially for hitting high-value targets beyond the range of artillery.
In February, "Helsing" announced plans to deliver 6,000 HX-2 drones to Ukraine, shortly after completing the development of its "smart" kamikaze drones.
"Just a little more patience," Brunes said in response to the question on "Telegram" no footage of the HX-2 drones has yet appeared.
According to him, "internal tests" of their HX-2 drones are nearing completion in Ukraine, conducted in close coordination with an unnamed Ukrainian military unit. The drone is adapting to the realities of the Ukrainian front.
"Helsing" notes that changes in the electromagnetic spectrum in Ukraine are occurring at an incredible pace and their company is trying to adapt quickly.
"We deliver not just a product, but a whole system. This includes training, service and support. Thanks to our current presence in Ukraine, we can react to changes on the battlefield that occur every two weeks," explained Bruness. "The electromagnetic spectrum in Ukraine is changing at a speed that is difficult to imagine here in Germany. That is why it is not enough to simply deliver a system. "You have to be part of the process, close to the user and able to react to developments in real time," he added.
Brunes explained that this approach also allows them to react quickly to critical feedback - "even someone who was quite critical in February is now very positive about our work and our system."
As for the price of the Helsing drones - an issue that has been raised in the media with allegations of inflated prices - the company does not disclose exact figures, but claims that the HX-2 drone is cheaper than the Russian kamikaze drone of the same class, the Lancet.
Putin produces 1,500 tanks a year - and may not intend to use them in Ukraine
In addition to the aforementioned developments, "Helsing" is also actively working in the field of aerospace technology, automated battlefield analysis from multiple data sources and the development of new models of human-machine interaction in combat - all built on the basis of artificial intelligence. This next-generation defense start-up does not hide its ambitions - according to one of its co-founders, Torsten Reil, their goal is to bring together the best European talents from around the world and build a European force that can truly make an impact and become a world leader.
"It may sound overconfident, but we want to help Europe regain its strength," Reil told media representatives in Munich during the day. "We want to prove that it is possible to build a leading company in this sector - and at the same time make a significant geopolitical contribution," he added.
"Helsing" has a clear understanding of the most urgent threat to the security of the European continent today, Ukrinform notes.
"We know that Putin annually modernizes or builds about 1,500 tanks. We know that most of them are stored in storage. And I think we have to assume that he intends to use them at some point - and probably not in Ukraine," Ryle pointed out. "That is why I think that NATO's eastern flank is something that we should pay very close attention to," he emphasized.
In the development strategy of "Helsing" Ukraine holds a special place.
"We believe that we have a long-term commitment to Ukraine. This is not a one-time demonstration project, after which we will move on to something else. Ukraine is part of our company. It is at its core," said his colleague Scherf.
The German company is convinced that Ukraine is a technological engine, and the Ukrainian front line is a "laboratory" in which innovations directly contribute to the defense of democracy. The stakes are not just the success of a startup, but the security of an entire continent. And perhaps right now - under rocket fire, in the trenches, at command posts - the new architecture of European security is already taking shape, Ukrinform concludes.