Germany is quietly building its own brain for future air warfare, and it wants Helsing to write the code. Berlin is lining up a €580mn contract for the Munich AI firm. The software would link fighters, drones, satellites and sensors, according to documents seen by Politico.
The deal salvages something from the wreckage of Europe’s biggest defence project. The joint Franco-German fighter jet has collapsed. Now Germany is pressing ahead alone, and a fast-rising startup stands to win the first big prize.
From a dead fighter jet
The Future Combat Air System was meant to be Europe’s answer to American and Chinese air power. Its centrepiece was a sixth-generation fighter. It fell apart in June after a long feud between Airbus and France’s Dassault over who would lead the work, as Euronews reported.
One piece survived the divorce: the combat cloud. In modern war the jet is only half the story. The decisive layer is the software. It lets crewed planes, drones, sensors and weapons share what they see and act as one.
