Visit to the ultra-secret European “Shahed” factory

March 2026, somewhere in southern Germany. We get into a black van which waits for us near the station; the precise destination is not communicated to us. Forty minutes later, we arrive in front of a large, slightly shabby building, which we are not authorized to describe. Inside, as in the most sensitive places of the armies, the doors are identified with digital codes, and not by the names of people or services, to complicate the task for possible spies.

The Point is the first French media to have had the right to visit the drone factory of the European defense start-up Helsing. Here, it produces the HX-2 tele-operated munitions, a sort of “super-Shahed” doped with AI, more effective but also more expensive than the Iranian-made drones, launched by the thousands on Ukraine from Russia.

We enter a large room, where a slogan dominates four assembly lines: “Protect our democracies”. The same one that intrigued, in 2025, visitors to the Paris Air Show, during which Helsing announced a fundraising of 600 million euros, bringing its valuation to more than 12 billion: a record for a European defense start-up.

Around ten workers are busy on the high-tech benches, juggling drone parts placed in numbered baskets, and tools all stored in a precise location. Each element is followed: “I can tell which screw was used for this or that drone, but also which screwdriver was used to screw it in. So, if we realize that a batch of parts or a tool is defective, we can only recall the drones concerned.” welcomes Michael Schwekutsch, Helsing vice president in charge of physical products – as opposed to software and services.

Mini factories in truck containers

In the storage area, 400 boxes are stacked several meters high. These drones are intended for Ukraine. Michael Schwekutsch calls out to us: “When I worked in Silicon Valley, some companies showed empty boxes to journalists. I want to prove to you that they are all full: choose one and we will open it together. HAS” We point to one, a little higher up, on our left. Weighing around twenty kilos, the case can be transported by a single soldier, as requested by Ukrainian buyers, and unpacking is done in a few moments.

Potentially exposed to an enemy strike in the event of war, the main factory can be replaced or supplemented by dozens of mini-factories. These fit into two standard truck containers and can be projected in a few hours to the four corners of the European continent, thus becoming much more difficult to destroy. Better yet: staff training is quick. “An unskilled worker can be operational after a single day of initiation,” se félicite Michael Schwekutsch.

“The production tool is an integral part of the combat system,” argues Antoine de Braquilanges, general director of Helsing France who worked for the American defense artificial intelligence giant, Palantir. “The idea is no longer to produce to store, but to produce at the right time, by integrating the latest software and hardware developments,” he adds.

France sulks

If it is supported by Germany, which placed an order for 4,300 HX-2 drones for more than 250 million euros, the European unicorn founded in 2021 and which brings together former Google, Apple, Meta, Palantir and Tesla is encountering difficulties in France.

Its premium pricing policy is annoying, with HX-2s costing between 30,000 and 60,000 euros, or 2 to 10 times more expensive than the Shahed, depending on the versions compared. “Our drones feature cutting-edge AI capable of identifying targets and striking them autonomously after authorization from a human.”we argue at Helsing, specifying that “Navigation is based on terrain monitoring, it is therefore not dependent on GPS, and during the final phase of the attack the engine can be cut: the drone then hovers in silence, difficult to detect.” The data link can also be cut when the drone is autonomous, making radio jamming ineffective.

In Paris, it is also Helsing’s German origins that stick: at the Élysée as at Bercy, they only swear by European sovereignty… as long as it is French.

“Helsing’s artificial intelligence is developed in France by more than 100 engineers,” recalls Antoine de Braquilanges. The presence on the board of directors of the start-up of General Denis Mercier, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and former Supreme Allied Commander for the transformation of NATO, was not, it seems, enough to untie the knots.

Progress through failure

As for the French military, we remain cautious: “The first missions of the HX-2 in Ukraine were not very conclusive, they have significant room for improvement, especially at this price,†slips a familiar army general from the file. Helsing continues its tests in real conditions, with more than 600 HX-2s destroyed to perfect the drone and the onboard software. Enough to progress through failure, as always with artificial intelligence.

When it was created in 2021 in Germany, Helsing positioned itself first and foremost as a pure AI company, integrating its software into existing platforms such as the European fighters Eurofighter and Gripen, or land vehicles. In the context of growing threats to democracies, crystallized by the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the founders Torsten Reil (ex-founder of the video game studio NaturalMotion, sold to the Californian giant Zynga), Gundbert Scherf (former advisor to the German Ministry of Defense) and Niklas Köhler (machine learning engineer) believes that the best AI technologies must be put at the service of European defense. Helsing is notably developing Cirra for electronic warfare and Altra for reconnaissance and strike.

The shift towards physical products is taking place with remotely operated munitions, colloquially nicknamed kamikaze drones: first the HF-1, mass-produced by a partner and deployed in Ukraine, then the HX-2, unveiled at the end of 2024, the first drone manufactured by Helsing, with X-shaped design and jam-resistant. The software DNA remains very present, and to make investments profitable, the start-up is broadening its scope by developing Centaur, an AI combat plane pilot, tested in a real duel against a human pilot on Gripen in 2025.

Still to make the most of its advances in AI, the company is becoming multi-domain: it is launching the SG-1 Fathom, an autonomous underwater drone capable of patrolling for 90 days without returning, equipped with Lura acoustic AI. Then at the end of 2025 the CA-1 Europa, a loyal wingman type combat drone, that is to say an unmanned fighter that can fly as an escort for combat aircraft, for example to carry out the most risky parts of the mission, or in an autonomous swarm. Its first flight is expected to take place in 2027.