Systematic and Helsing join forces for sovereign control of drone swarms

Helsing and Systematic are today announcing a partnership to provide Europe with sovereign AI-powered swarm capabilities integrated with existing C2 systems and processes, to revolutionize the recce-strike complex. The agreement is being signed this week at Europe’s largest defense exhibition, DSEI in London, and is the latest innovative partnership between European defense tech companies developing sovereign capabilities in Europe, for Europe. 

By combining their expertise, the two companies are strengthening the continent’s digital defense industrial base, providing the capability and capacity required for quicker decisions, state-of-the-art targeting, and precision mass strike capabilities. This will allow military leaders to build up their capacity in this area and adopt lessons from Ukraine. 

The partnership will integrate Helsing’s AI-powered defense tech platforms with the Systematic SitaWare suite of C4ISR currently used by more than 50 nations. This will allow customers to be instantly ‘drone ready’ and open the pathway to further scale the deployment of autonomous sensors and effectors as drone swarms.

The technology will enable the faster exchange of data between drones, such as ISR platforms and the Helsing HX-2 strike drone, which is deployed in Ukraine. SitaWare users can then deliver mission critical tasks at unprecedented speed and scale, such as developing target lists, creating plans and orders, tasking strike assets, deconflicting airspace to ensure safe operations, and delivering fused friendly and enemy force pictures.

Data gathered from the uncrewed systems will support tasks ranging from target nomination through to battle damage assessment. When operated in conjunction with the strike capabilities in the HX-2 system, commanders will have a comprehensive and seamless end-to-end F3EAD capability (find, fix, finish, exploit, analyse, disseminate). 

Helsing’s Co-founder and Co-CEO, Gundbert Scherf, says: “This partnership brings together two entrepreneurial and sovereign European technology companies: Systematic, the leader in interoperable battle management systems, and Helsing, at the forefront of AI-enabled reconnaissance and strike. We share a mission and an ambition — to intelligently network our forces at the speed the threat situation demands. What wins wars is not individual systems, but the ability to connect them and to iterate at the speed of relevance. Together, we will deliver exactly that for Europe’s defense.” 

Systematic’s Chairman and Founder, Michael Holm, says: “Systematic has always been at the forefront of data delivery for military operations, with Helsing emerging as one of the major European players in AI and new technologies. As the AI age is increasing how we can use data, partnerships such as this help our users to get the most out of their systems, and the other platforms that support them. As Europe continues to invest in its own defense technological and industrial base, we are helping to improve European sovereignty, while also providing our allies and partners with advanced data solutions.”