The defense company is launching an agent-based AI platform. It is intended to help with the evaluation of military data. This means that Helsing could score points with the Bundeswehr.
Analysis of data in the field: With the new Clarity software, Helsing is hoping for a major order from the Bundeswehr. Photo: Helsing
Helsing has introduced the AI platform Clarity, which is intended to evaluate combat data in real time and pass it on to soldiers.
The Bundeswehr is looking for such software and is currently examining offers from 30 companies, including Helsing and Hensoldt.
Clarity runs on the customer's infrastructure and is intended to ensure sole control over data, models and operations at the customer.
Helsing received $1.8 billion in a financing round and, with a valuation of $18 billion, is the most expensive defense start-up in Europe.
Berlin, Düsseldorf. Europe's most valuable defense start-up Helsing is competing with the US company Palantir in the software market for armed forces with a new AI product. “With Clarity, European armed forces receive software that is developed in Europe, runs on their own infrastructure and remains under their control,” said Helsing’s co-chief Gundbert Scherf at the presentation of the agent-based AI platform in Berlin on Wednesday.
According to him, there is currently a “surplus of information and data overload”. Scherf asked: “What’s the point of terabytes of data if we need hours to evaluate them?”
The fact that Helsing is now introducing the software is no coincidence. The Bundeswehr wants to digitize and standardize its data collection. The BWI, the Bundeswehr's IT system house, is currently viewing offers from 30 companies.
Helsing is already one of them together with the sensor manufacturer Hensoldt. It was initially unclear whether the new Clarity software was already available to the BWI.
The Bundeswehr wants to present a prototype in early summer
The software should be able to evaluate combat data in real time and pass it on to soldiers in order to gain an information advantage. Thomas Daum, Vice Admiral and Inspector of Cyber and Information Space for the Bundeswehr, told the Handelsblatt in September: “Market exploration is ongoing and I am optimistic that we will be able to present a prototype in the second quarter of 2027.”
Palantir's Maven software, which was used in the Iran War and used by NATO, for example, is not an option for the Bundeswehr. The software was excluded for sovereignty reasons, as Handelsblatt reported.
Helsing is not the only company hoping for an order. The Bundeswehr is said to be in contact with, among others, Almato from Stuttgart, a subsidiary of the German IT provider Datagroup, the Berlin start-up Orcrist and Chapsvision from Paris.
Helsing immediately explains why the Bundeswehr and other NATO forces should choose the software: “Clarity is fundamentally sovereign and runs on the infrastructure that belongs to the customer.”
At the same time, the software follows the Mosa principles. Mosa means that applications are both integrable and interchangeable, eliminating dependencies.
“Data, models and operations remain under the sole control of the customer,” emphasizes Helsing. Scherf said: “The software nervous system must be controlled by our own will.”
“The Federal Ministry of Defense is pushing for modular, open system architectures for all procurements in the area of conventional high-tech systems,” said Frank Sauer, Head of Research at the Bundeswehr University. That also makes sense, because otherwise you would end up trapped in proprietary, closed ecosystems and dependent on one manufacturer for key capabilities.
Interview with Christian Freuding
“I am sure that Russia is not based on our planning periods”
In order for Clarity to ultimately come into play, the system must, according to Sauer, “naturally meet the requirements of the Federal Ministry of Defense’s new AI concept in terms of robustness, reliability, transparency and traceability.” On paper, that is the case, he emphasized.
The most important order now shows how important control over software is in the Bundeswehr. Only recently did Helsing hand over the source code, the programming text, for the operating system of a new fighter aircraft system to the Bundeswehr. This means that the code is now entirely in the hands of the Bundeswehr.
Helsing started as an AI software company
Helsing was founded in Munich in 2021 and initially started as a pure AI software provider for, among other things, combat aircraft, drones and underwater surveillance. Before the company began producing drones and developing a fighter jet, the company exclusively upgraded existing weapon systems with AI software to improve their warfighting capabilities, increase efficiency and adapt them to new requirements. Helsing is currently equipping the Eurofighter fighter aircraft with a reconnaissance system and self-protection using electromagnetic waves.
Clarity is not the only new project for Helsing. The company only announced at the end of October that it would enter the competitive drone defense market. In the second half of next year, the company plans to bring two different guided missiles onto the market. Other German defense start-ups are also active in this area, including Quantum Systems and Tytan Technologies.
Startups
Investments have already tripled: Munich is number one in Europe when it comes to armaments
Helsing has had the capital for expansion into new areas since July at the latest: Back then, the company raised a record sum of $1.8 billion in a financing round. Since then, Helsing has been valued at $18 billion - more than any other defense start-up in Europe.
In addition to defense drones and software, the money will flow into the further development of the HX-2 combat drone and the development of the first unmanned fighter jet called the CA-1. Helsing competes there with Airbus and Rheinmetall, among others. The maiden flight is scheduled for next year.
