Ukraine conflict: HX-2 qualification imminent

Helsing unveiled its AI-enabled HX-2 drone in December 2024. (Helsing )

Qualification of the HX-2 loitering munition for Ukraine will be completed within weeks, Simon Brünjes, Helsing's vice-president of sales, told international journalists including Janes at the company's Munich office on 9 July. He said the HX-2s are in Ukraine for their qualification process.

Helsing co-founder and CEO Gundbert Scherf placed this in the context of his company's efforts to support Ukraine by providing it with an autonomous 40–100 km capability integrated with a local partner. Drawing on the lessons from Ukraine, he spoke of a need to learn and iterate as quickly as possible and to upscale to counter Russian upscaling with the Shahed loitering munition. He said Helsing wants to supply thousands of HX-2s in “a highly integrated way” following the supply of a couple of thousand HF-1 loitering munitions to Ukraine. He expressed Helsing's long-term commitment to and partnership with Ukraine.

Brünjes said the HX-2 weighs 12 kg, including a 4 kg payload, has a speed of over 200 km/h (220 km/h, according to the Helsing website), and a range of up to 100 km. He listed the system's artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities as being able to operate in a GPS-denied environment, self-learning, and having automatic target recognition. He said Ukraine would not use the latter to avoid hitting civilian targets such as kindergartens.

Scherf said Helsing was not profiting from supplying Ukraine with HX-2, with the company aiming for it to be less expensive than the Russian Lancet loitering munition.