Helsing's HX-2 main attack unmanned aerial vehicle, the most valuable defense technology startup in Europe, encountered difficulties when taking off during tests conducted by Regiment 14 of Ukraine, a unit specializing in unmanned systems. That is the content in the internal presentation on November 20, 2025, drafted by a group of the German Ministry of Defense.
This unmanned aerial vehicle model is advertised as integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to help self-guidance without a controller, but lacks some AI tools as expected.
This document was compiled by a unit under General Gunter Schneider, head of the German Ministry of Defense's Armed Forces Department, and his name appeared on the cover of the document.
In addition to this document, 5 sources in Germany and Ukraine also revealed to Bloomberg about the operational efficiency of Helsing's unmanned aerial vehicles in combat. Sources requested anonymity because the information is classified as confidential.
Three sources said that Helsing's unmanned aerial vehicle was strongly affected by electronic warfare when operating on the ground, causing communication with the operator to be disrupted. These problems reduced demand for the unmanned aerial vehicle line that was paid for by the German military. Germany currently has no plans to order more until Ukraine clearly shows its demand.
For its part, Helsing affirmed that she was unaware of the above presentation and rejected many conclusions made by Bloomberg, including the assessment that this company's HX-2 unmanned aerial vehicle had a high rate of take-off failure. The company affirmed that some units in the Ukrainian army still expressed interest in this type of unmanned aerial vehicle.
Helsing, established in 2021, is one of the defense industry enterprises that benefits significantly in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In the capital raising round in June 2023, Helsing was valued at 12 billion euros.
HX-2 is the first hardware product designed by Helsing itself to be put into the war zone. The success or failure of this unmanned aerial vehicle is considered an important indicator in the context that the company is focusing more resources on developing air and water vehicles.
Helsing announced the HX-2 in December 2024. This is an X-wing unmanned aerial vehicle, combining fixed wings with quadcopter propellers (4-propeller unmanned aerial vehicles), operating like a mobile missile, capable of attacking targets at a maximum distance of 100km.
In 2024, Helsing signed an agreement to supply 4,000 attack unmanned aerial vehicles, manufactured with the same Ukrainian enterprise. The company has delivered about half of these, belonging to the HF-1 model, and about 40% of the delivered unmanned aerial vehicles are still in Ukrainian inventory, according to a November 2025 presentation. The two sides are proceeding to convert the contract to supply HX-2 instead of the old model.
The HF-1 model, made from pressed wood, was once criticized in Ukraine for being expensive but ineffective. In February last year, Helsing announced plans to send an additional 6,000 HX-2s to Ukraine. However, the German Ministry of Defense at that time said it had not committed to this order, and Helsing did not specify the buyer.
