{"id":3289,"date":"2026-07-14T10:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/3289\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T10:42:13","slug":"helsing-announces-us-expansion-with-hx-2-production-anticipated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/3289\/","title":{"rendered":"Helsing announces US expansion with HX-2 production anticipated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Helsing has announced plans to launch a Resilience Factory in the US as it builds its presence across NATO. Domestic production is often a pre-requisite for US contracts, but a modest award from Washington can exceed a European production contract and pave the way for billions in follow-on orders. <\/p>\n

By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence, published on July 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

Helsing has announced its plans to establish a Resilience Factory in West Virginia, extending is presence in the US, according to a July 14 press release. The news comes on the heels of the companies Series E funding round, which brought $1.8 billion in funding, taking the total raised to $3.35 billion (\u00a32.51 billion\/\u20ac2.94 billion) since 2021.<\/p>\n

The West Virginia Resilience Factory will be capable of producing 2,000 HX-2 drones per month, the press release states. \u201cWest Virginia was selected by Helsing following a competitive nationwide evaluation of potential locations, reflecting the state\u2019s industrial heritage, skilled workforce, and commitment to rebuilding America\u2019s manufacturing capacity,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n

The scaling of production at the Resilience Factories is partly driven by Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who was hired as Helsing\u2019s Executive Vice President of Physical Products. With a background at Tesla and Apple, Dr. Schwekutsch his past experience to help the company increase its production.<\/p>\n

This kind of development is notable because innovation alone does not win wars. Speaking generally, large and long wars are often decided by the industrial capacity of the states involved. It is also critical to be able to take successful innovations and turn them into mas-produced products.<\/p>\n

Producing weapons at industrial scale is a hot topic in the US right now, reflected in the recent framework agreements with Lockheed<\/a> and Castelion<\/a>, for example. So, Helsing\u2019s approach is in the right ballpark for a US audience.<\/p>\n

What is known about Helsing US?
\n\"Dr.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jennifer McArdle, general manager of Helsing US on the left, with Governor Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia. Credit: Helsing.<\/p>\n

Helsing US has been established relatively quietly, and this appears to be its first big public announcement. The investment in West Virginia will reach around $50 million, supporting up to 60 full-time employees, according to News and Sentinel<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As reported by Calibre Defence, the company\u2019s HX-2 has been tested in trials by<\/a> the US Army, scoring an 88% success rate. So, it follows that Helsing US has already gained some traction in the American market.<\/p>\n

This may in part be due to the company\u2019s general manager, Dr. Jennifer McArdle. Dr. McArdle has an extensive background in the US defence ecosystem, having worked both in the think-tank world and for defence companies. She holds a PhD in War Studies from King\u2019s College London, is an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Defense Program and wargaming lab at CNAS and sits on the board of Kongsberg US.<\/p>\n

She has also been named a \u201cMad Scientist,\u201d by the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. This means she has been recognised for her ability to help the US Army think outside of the box, challenging its assumptions about the future of warfare. Dr. McArdle\u2019s expertise is in modelling and simulation, which the US forces use extensively to stress test their concepts of operations and future scenarios.<\/p>\n

Calibre comment: The US as a market for European tech
\n\"The<\/p>\n

The NMESIS vehicle shown here is based around the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile. Credit: US DoD<\/p>\n

Cracking the US market has at times proven difficult for European companies. Short of buying a company that is difficult to replace, there are few options for access beyond investing in a facility there. However, if successful, the rewards can be quite significant. Kongsberg, for example, is a key partner in the production of the Joint Strike Missile and Naval Strike Missile, both of which play an important role in US long-range strike ambitions.<\/p>\n

BAE Systems, through its acquisition of United Defense Industries, is now the prime for the US Army\u2019s M109 howitzer upgrades, AMPV fleet production to replace the M113, and the modernisation and servicing of the M2 Bradley fleet. It is also producing the US Marine Corps\u2019 Amphibious Combat Vehicle Fleet (ACV). Together these programmes reflect decades of investment and procurement, as well as profit for BAE.<\/p>\n

And this touches on an important topic for Helsing. A modest contract in the US can lead to billions of dollars in follow-on orders. Take AeroVironment as an example; it produced one of the first loitering munitions, the Switchblade, for the US Army back in 2012. Now, between 2021 and 2026, it is estimated to have received at least $1.85 billion in contracts from its US customer. Even a modest order from the US can be significantly greater than a production order from a European country. Overall, this suggests that Helsing US could be a solid business move for the European startup, but it is facing stiff competition from several established companies, AeroVironment is likely amongst them.<\/p>\n

The lead image shows boxes of HX-2 loitering munitions ready for delivery in a Helsing Resilience Factory. Credit: Helsing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helsing has announced plans to launch a Resilience Factory in the US as it builds its presence across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,129,2075,1623,2118,1789],"class_list":["post-3289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-defence-industry","tag-helsing","tag-hx-2","tag-popular","tag-resilience-factory","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}