Drone start-up Helsing set to mount joint bid for military satellite project
German group to join up with OHB to build satellite constellation with AI to provide surveillance and reconnaissance
Drone start-up Helsing is planning to join forces with satellite producer OHB as the two German groups look to create an orbital reconnaissance network for the country’s armed forces.
Europe’s largest economy is racing to boost its capabilities in space and the two companies will on Tuesday unveil a joint venture to bid for a multibillion-euro programme for the Bundeswehr, known as Spock 2.
They will propose building a constellation of satellites equipped with AI technology from Helsing to provide surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as identify military targets.
The aim would be to supply rapid information about the activities of hostile forces and provide support for possible frontline operations, particularly on Nato’s eastern flank, where Germany is building up a permanent brigade in Lithuania.
The partnership comes amid fierce competition for the €35bn that Berlin has pledged to spend on military space technology by 2030.
That plan, announced by defence minister Boris Pistorius last September, was unveiled as the war in Ukraine underlined the importance of space-based reconnaissance and surveillance as well as communications networks.
It was also fuelled by growing European unease about the continent’s reliance on the US for satellite-based intelligence at a time when President Donald Trump is reducing Washington’s longstanding role as a guarantor of its security.
Helsing co-chief executive Gundbert Scherf, whose company is best known for its kamikaze attack drones, said that the US had historically been the world’s “most ambitious and most resourceful nation” when it came to military space technology.
But he said that Europe had a unique opportunity to move ahead. “We think this is an opportunity here for Europe to leapfrog,” he told the FT. “We think we can build a cutting-edge capability here.”
OHB and Helsing declined to put a figure on the value of the Spock 2 contract, but it is likely to be worth several billion euros.
The OHB-Helsing tie-up follows anger within the space industry after the Spock 1 programme, a deal worth up to €2.7bn to provide reconnaissance information to the Bundeswehr, was awarded without competition to a joint venture formed by German arms giant Rheinmetall and the Finnish start-up Iceye.
Rheinmetall and Iceye are also expected to bid for the second stage Spock 2 programme, which is set to involve an array of different sensors. The European defence and space giant Airbus is another possible contender.
The jostling for the Spock 2 programme remains in its early stages, with the contract unlikely to be finalised before next year.
But OHB chief executive Marco Fuchs said that the two companies wanted to work on a proposal ahead of time that would help inform the thinking of procurement officials. “It’s about providing a solution to our government that is asked for — and that is also kick-started by industry.”
The two companies will also announce on Tuesday that OHB is joining a German-Norwegian space consortium that was announced last year by Helsing, the Norwegian defence company Kongsberg as well as the German rocket launch start-up Isar Aerospace and the sensor maker Hensoldt.
Pistorius, the defence minister, said on a visit to Norway’s Andøya spaceport in March that he was interested in deepening co-operation between Berlin and Oslo, citing the possibility of a joint satellite constellation for imaging reconnaissance.
The partnership comes as the Bremen-based OHB, which is partly owned by KKR, prepares to harness the surge in European defence spending to issue new shares and allow the US private equity group to reduce its stake in the company.
OHB is also awaiting approval from German regulators for a separate joint venture with Rheinmetall to bid for a parallel German space programme to create a military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink space-based communications network for the Bundeswehr.