Defence tech's new German generation: Helsing and Quantum Systems
Two Bavarian companies founded in the last decade now supply software, drones and autonomous systems to European armed forces. A factual look at what they make and why they emerged now.
For most of the post-Cold War period, German defence procurement was dominated by long-established primes and programmes that ran for decades. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 changed the demand side abruptly. Armed forces needed reconnaissance drones, electronic warfare tools and software that could integrate data from many sensors, and they needed them quickly. Two Bavarian companies founded in the past decade have become prominent suppliers in that new market. This article describes what they make, without taking a view on defence policy.
Helsing: from software to aircraft
Helsing was founded in Munich in 2021 by Torsten Reil, Gundbert Scherf and Niklas Köhler. It started as an AI software company, building systems that fuse data from sensors and help operators interpret a battlefield. Its Altra platform combines reconnaissance inputs from drones, observers and other sources into a common picture and supplies targeting data to other systems.
Helsing then moved into hardware. Its products include the HF-1 and HX-2 strike drones, which have been supplied to Ukraine. The HX-2 is built at a factory in southern Germany. The SG-1 Fathom is an autonomous underwater glider for maritime surveillance, to be produced in Plymouth in the UK. In June 2025 Helsing agreed to acquire Grob Aircraft, a Bavarian aircraft manufacturer, and in September 2025 it unveiled the CA-1 Europa, an uncrewed combat aircraft designed to operate alongside crewed fighters, at Grob's site in Tussenhausen. Helsing has said it is targeting a first flight in 2027.
The trajectory, from software to drones to a combat aircraft in a few years, is unusually fast for the sector. It reflects both the company's approach and a political environment in which European governments are prioritising speed of delivery.
Quantum Systems: drones from mapping to reconnaissance
Quantum Systems was founded in 2015 by Florian Seibel, a former Bundeswehr officer and helicopter pilot, and is based in the Munich region. Its early products were electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) fixed-wing drones. These take off like a helicopter and fly like an aircraft, avoiding the need for runways or catapults. The Trinity series, in production since 2018, is used for civilian surveying and mapping.
Its Vector reconnaissance drone, developed in partnership with the software company Auterion, became widely known after Germany financed deliveries to Ukraine. The company has also developed the Twister reconnaissance drone and has opened production capacity in Ukraine, as well as operating a facility in California. Its profile shows how a dual-use company, rooted in commercial surveying, can scale into defence when demand shifts.
Software as the common thread
Despite their different origins, the two companies share a premise: the value in modern military systems increasingly lies in software. Autonomy in navigation, resistance to electronic jamming, the ability to update a drone's behaviour quickly after lessons from the field, and the fusion of data from many sensors are all software problems. Hardware matters, but it is becoming cheaper and more expendable. That shift favours firms able to iterate quickly, and it challenges procurement systems designed around platforms that remain unchanged for decades.
Why now, and why Germany?
Demand
European defence budgets have risen since 2022, and lessons from Ukraine have shown the value of cheap, numerous, software-defined systems alongside traditional platforms.
Capital
Investor attitudes to defence have shifted. Funds that once excluded the sector now see European security as a strategic priority, and both companies have raised significant private capital.
Engineering base
Bavaria combines aerospace suppliers, research universities including the Bundeswehr University Munich, and an established aviation industry, giving start-ups access to experienced engineers and certification know-how.
The ecosystem around them
Neither company operates alone. Helsing has formed partnerships with established European defence firms, including the sensor specialist Hensoldt on the CA-1 Europa, while Quantum Systems works with Auterion on software. Investors, research institutes and suppliers in southern Germany are increasingly oriented towards security applications, and other start-ups are emerging in areas such as counter-drone systems and satellite reconnaissance.
Questions that remain
- Scaling manufacturing: moving from small batches to large-scale, reliable production is a different discipline from software development.
- Procurement: how quickly national ministries can buy from newer suppliers will determine growth.
- Autonomy and oversight: the role of AI in targeting raises legal and ethical questions that governments, not companies, will ultimately have to settle.
- Export rules: German export controls shape which customers can be served.
Whatever one's view of the sector, these firms represent a structural change: German defence technology is no longer the exclusive preserve of incumbents, and the new entrants are setting a faster pace.