‘Resilience factories’
Leading German defence start-ups enter ‘strategic partnership’ to expand AI-based warfare. They seek autonomy from US components and US finance. Weapons are war-tested in Ukraine.
BERLIN (own report) – Two of Germany’s leading defence start-ups are forming a “strategic partnership” to advance AI-based warfare development. The companies both aim at the greatest possible autonomy from US players in the field. The development of an “AI-based reconnaissance and response network” will, they claim, enable armed forces to “act faster, more precisely and more efficiently in combat situations and operate at greater distances than today.” Their weaponry will deliberately be “European in design”, according to both Helsing and Arx Robotics. Helsing is the most expensive German start-up ever, valued at twelve billion euros. Arx Robotics is also seen as a rising star in the start-up scene. Unlike legacy defence companies such as Rheinmetall, which typically have close transatlantic business links, the new start-up scene hopes to establish European, and in some cases even purely German, armaments production independently of the United States. Their products are being developed in close cooperation with the defence industry in Ukraine and with the Ukrainian armed forces. The Ukrainian military are testing newly developed weapon systems in actual war conditions. This can give the German start-ups a competitive advantage by manufacturing military hardware that has been tried and tested in practice.
‘Local and sovereign manufacturing’
Helsing, valued at 12 billion euros, became the most expensive German start-up ever several months ago. The defence tech company is best known for making drones, especially kamikaze drones for Ukraine. It is, among other things, in talks to supply weapon systems for a NATO “drone wall” on NATO’s eastern flank. Helsing is known to be extremely well connected. Co-founder Gundbert Scherf was seconded from his former employer, McKinsey, to the German Defence Ministry, where he worked as a special representative in the armaments field from 2014 to 2016.[1] Helsing’s HX-2 drones are autonomously guided and capable of reaching targets up to 100 kilometres away without any external control. This feature makes them more resistant to jamming manoeuvres. Helsing also develops artificial intelligence (AI) for tanks, fighter jets and submarines. It has a contract is to equip Eurofighters for electronic warfare in collaboration with Sweden’s Saab company.[2] The tech start-up is currently expanding its activities in the United Kingdom, where it is manufacturing autonomous underwater gliders for maritime surveillance and other uses.[3] Helsing has also focused on creating what it calls “resilience factories”. These are, according to the company, “highly efficient production facilities that enable nation states to manufacture locally and independently.”[4]
‘For Europe, in Europe’
Arx Robotics, also founded in 2021, shares Helsing’s quest for autonomous production that can operate as independently as possible from non-European component suppliers. The start-up also says it has been careful to attract “exclusively European investors”. It is committed to ensuring that “the start-up’s supply chain is European”.[5] Arx Robotics manufactures mini-tanks, an unmanned ground vehicle called the ‘Gereon’, which weighs just under 400 kilograms. These robotic mini-tanks are primarily intended for use in the military “death corridor” along the front line between two armies. It is considered hardly possible for soldiers to survive in this zone due to increasingly intensive deployment of drones. The tech start-up, which is already supplying several European armed forces, has, like Helsing, become active in the United Kingdom among its other production locations. However, Arx Robotics’ main focus is on software development. The company’s best-known product is the Mithra operating system. Mithra OS is used to transform all types of existing vehicles and weapon systems into autonomous, networked and intelligent systems by integrating AI capabilities.[6] Company co-founder Mac Wietfeld says his mission is to strengthen Europe’s “industrial-military backbone and thus its defence capabilities “ – “for Europe, in Europe”.[7]
‘European design’
Last week, Helsing and Arx Robotics announced a “strategic partnership”. They aim to “develop an AI-based reconnaissance and response network for European defence.”[8] More specifically, the objective is to “digitize, network and AI-equip the previously highly fragmented and analogue land assets.” This should enable “armed forces in combat situations” to act “faster, more precisely and more efficiently, and at greater distances than today.” What’s more, the partnership is explicitly “European in scope”. In addition to its cooperation in Ukraine, the partnership will extend to “joint projects in, for instance, the UK and Germany.” Ultimately, the goal is to “give European and Ukrainian armed forces a technological advantage,” Wietfeld is quoted as saying.[9]
Fast testing in practice
What both Helsing and Arx Robotics have in common is that they not only supply the Ukrainian armed forces but also produce munitions inside Ukraine itself. Their production can be closely coordinated with the fighting units on the front lines. In the case of the Gereon mini-tank, for example, it is reported that an earlier model had “initially failed in practical testing in Ukraine”. Their priority is now to develop weapon systems for the war in Ukraine and then adapt them “to comply with European procurement and security guidelines”.[10] This approach reportedly involves “people with direct front-line experience”. The companies employ people who “service the equipment on-the-ground at the front and work closely with the armed forces”. They also cooperate with the Ukrainian arms industry. The Gereon, for instance, was developed in close collaboration with two Ukrainian arms companies. Their Ukrainian cooperation partners are considered efficient and fast. “If you only develop in Europe,” says Arx co-founder Wietfeld, “it takes decades, and you may end up with a system that is not suitable for the battlefield.”[11] Similar views have been heard from other start-ups that produce drones or other high-tech weapons for the Ukrainian armed forces.
Competitive advantages
Helsing and Arx Robotics are prime examples of the new German defence start-ups focused on “intra-European or German value chains” without US components, notes Franz Enders, the author of a recent study on the subject. “This isn’t working yet in terms of the financing, as they are still dependent on American capital,” explains Enders, “but in their strategy papers, the start-ups have repeatedly emphasised that they are aiming to have both funding and production within Europe.”[12] And with their products being quickly tested in Ukraine under war conditions, they potentially have a major advantage over competitors.
[1] See: Die Rüstungsregierung im Amt.
[2] See: Krieg als Schlacht zwischen Industrien.
[3] Craig Langford: Helsing to build drone submarine factory in Plymouth. ukdefencejournal.org.uk 08.07.2025.
[4] Helsing produziert weitere 6.000 Kampfdrohnen für die Ukraine. helsing.ai 13.02.2025.
[5] Nadine Schimroszik: Arx Robotics will Europas Verteidigungsfähigkeit stärken. handelsblatt.com 28.04.2025.
[6] Sven Astheimer, Maximilian Sachse: Mini-Panzer für die Ukraine. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 25.08.2025.
[7] Nadine Schimroszik: Arx Robotics will Europas Verteidigungsfähigkeit stärken. handelsblatt.com 28.04.2025.
[8], [9] Helsing und Arx Robotics schließen strategische Partnerschaft. wehrtechnik.info 11.09.2025.
[10], [11] Sven Astheimer, Maximilian Sachse: Mini-Panzer für die Ukraine. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 25.08.2025.
[12] Daniel Leisegang, Martin Schwarzbeck: „Man kann hier von einem neuen militärisch-industriellen Komplex sprechen“. netzpolitik.org 30.07.2025.
