Germany wants Helsing to build the brain of its next air war

Germany is quietly building its own brain for future air warfare, and it wants Helsing to write the code. Berlin is lining up a €580mn contract for the Munich AI firm. The software would link fighters, drones, satellites and sensors, according to documents seen by Politico.

The deal salvages something from the wreckage of Europe’s biggest defence project. The joint Franco-German fighter jet has collapsed. Now Germany is pressing ahead alone, and a fast-rising startup stands to win the first big prize.

From a dead fighter jet

The Future Combat Air System was meant to be Europe’s answer to American and Chinese air power. Its centrepiece was a sixth-generation fighter. It fell apart in June after a long feud between Airbus and France’s Dassault over who would lead the work, as Euronews reported.

One piece survived the divorce: the combat cloud. In modern war the jet is only half the story. The decisive layer is the software. It lets crewed planes, drones, sensors and weapons share what they see and act as one.

Berlin has decided not to wait for a revived multinational effort. Instead it is building a national version, the Combat Fighter System Nucleus, or CFSN. Internal papers describe it as the backbone for future networked air warfare, Politico reported.

What Helsing would build

The scope is wide. Under the contract, Helsing would deliver two experimental uncrewed combat aircraft, two ground control stations and a ground segment. It would also write the operating-system and autonomy software. And it would hand over a government-owned reference architecture for other systems to plug into.

That last part matters. By keeping the blueprint in state hands, Berlin hopes other suppliers can later build on top of it. Helsing would not work alone, either. The papers list MBDA Germany, Helsing’s Grob Aircraft unit, sensor maker Hensoldt and electronics specialist Rohde & Schwarz as subcontractors.

Helsing also beat strong rivals to get here. The ministry weighed four possible main contractors, including Airbus Defence and Space, MBDA Germany and Diehl Defence. Only Helsing, the note says, supplied every piece of required evidence.

A politically delicate deal

The contract is awkward for Berlin in several ways. Germany says the architecture should avoid leaning on any single supplier. Yet the first step hands the job to one company. Officials flagged the contradiction themselves.

The ministry is also citing a national-security exemption to skip a normal EU tender. An open contest, it argues, would put German security at risk. One internal note warned of “considerable communication needs”. Officials want to explain why the deal cannot wait for the wider air-combat plan.

Then there is parliament. Normally the Bundestag’s budget committee must sign off on anything worth more than €25mn. The documents suggest a second stage in 2027 would skip a fresh vote, and lawmakers have pushed back hard on such moves before. The contract would also reimburse Helsing for experimental work rather than buy a finished product at a fixed price, with a price ceiling meant to cap the risk.

Helsing’s fast rise

Few European startups have climbed so quickly. Helsing launched in Munich in 2021. It is now one of the continent’s most valuable tech firms, worth around €12bn after a €600mn round led by Spotify boss Daniel Ek’s fund.

Its products span the battlefield. The company makes strike drones already used in Ukraine, an autonomous wingman aircraft, and the Lura underwater surveillance system. It has flown a Saab fighter under AI control. It has also teamed up with Mistral on military AI models.

Why it matters

The deal is a sign of where European defence is heading. Software, not airframes, increasingly decides who wins, and governments are racing to own it.

It also shows the strain on joint projects. As Germany goes it alone, the dream of one shared European fighter looks further away, while national champions step into the gap. For Helsing, a single contract could turn it into the software core of how Europe fights in the air. The ministry, for now, will not comment, and Helsing declined to as well.