Helsing displays a model of the company's HX-2 AI-enabled strike drone at the 2025 DSEI exposition. (Tim Martin/Breaking Defense)
PARIS — German defense firm Helsing plans to establish its first US defense manufacturing facility and open a new drone production plant in West Virginia, the state’s governor revealed on Monday.
Helsing will initially invest $50 million to open the facility, according to a press release from the office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey. The release says the facility will start manufacturing Helsing’s HX-2 drone. Company executive Jennifer McArdle said at an event in West Virginia announcing the new facility today that the firm plans to produce as many as 2,000 drones a month, according to local media.
“Welcoming a global defense technology innovator with battlefield-deployed products like Helsing to Berkeley County is another major milestone for West Virginia,” Morrisey said in the release.
The company said the facility in Martinsburg — situated in the northeast of the state wedged between Virginia and Maryland — is planned to have initial operating capability by November and full rate production within a year.
