In a wooded strip, two Ukrainian soldiers – a technician and an electrician – assemble wings in a large black box. The kit is an HX-2 combat drone from German manufacturer Helsing, equipped with artificial intelligence.
A billion-dollar startup from Bavaria is supplying thousands of kits to the Ukrainian army, funded by the German government. Germany’s armed forces also recently awarded Helsing a contract worth millions of euros.
At the beginning of the year, critical reports about drones appeared in Western media, including German outlets. He cited Ukrainian troops who reportedly identified technical issues during a test deployment in 2025. According to a newspaper report WorldMany drones were not ready for flight or crashed soon after takeoff. The hit rate was also said to be low. In its report, reference has been made to Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front in eastern Ukraine.
However, the manufacturer has denied these reports. “Members of the Ukrainian armed forces are testing the HX-2 drone together with Hellsing staff,” a spokesperson told DW in late January. It said the first results of the trials were “encouraging”.
Combat deployment near Pokrovsk
Soldiers setting up the HX-2 drone repeatedly notice a detector mounted on a tree. It tracks Russian drones flying over their positions.
Inside a shelter, two other soldiers – a pilot and a sailor – prepare to launch a German drone. They turn on their laptops and monitors, and also arrange a series of lights to create a little ambiance. The crew is working in a section of the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass coal region, where Russian forces are advancing.
“Our job is to destroy their logistics routes,” says the pilot and commander, who uses the call sign black.
Helsing initially offered its older, simpler HF-1 model, which was developed with a Ukrainian manufacturer. At the time, the order included 4,000 drones. In early 2025, the German company announced the delivery of an additional 6,000 drones of the new HX-2 model.
Black’s crew, currently operating the HX-2, first used Hellsing’s first drone, the HF-1. The HX-2 is described as fast and agile. “It gives us a huge advantage in the air – it’s harder for the enemy to shoot down,” says Black.
The goal is achieved using artificial intelligence. “Normally we fly toward the target that the reconnaissance drone pilots show us. However, the HX-2 system can independently identify the target. It still cannot tell if the target has already been destroyed,” says Black.
Once the pilot confirms the target selected by artificial intelligence, the drone continues its flight autonomously. According to Commander Black, the HX-2 – like most drones – is vulnerable to electronic warfare.
Ukrainian military personnel DW spoke to identified several shortcomings in the drone that they did not want to make public. “The manufacturer’s representative will be arriving soon to look into it. We have had a support chat with them,” the commander says.
In response to DW’s request, Helsing said that the HX-2 drones have not yet flown “in sufficient numbers at the front to allow a fundamental assessment of performance in wartime conditions.” The company said they are currently being adapted to front-line conditions, especially for the constantly changing electronic warfare measures used by the opposing side.
Helsing did not respond to DW’s request in late April regarding the HX-2’s current hit rate.
Problems occur during launch
The crew carefully selected the day for the HX-2 flight, taking into account wind speed, precipitation, and cloud cover. The weather is clear. It is believed that the drone will fly several dozen kilometers over the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region.
A few hours later, the HX-2 crew finally received the launch order. However, the drone does not launch from a catapult. The engine fails to start, the electrician reports over the radio.
Together with the technician, he tries again and eventually it succeeds. The unit’s senior sergeant, Oleksandr Karpyuk, explains that it originally had problems connecting to a ground station, which sometimes happens with drones of this type.
A hit in better weather
Despite the favorable weather forecast, the sky is now cloudy again and the drone pilot is having difficulty navigation. The test will have to be aborted.
On the next deployment, when a DW reporter was not present, the crew successfully rammed a truck. The drone operation was recorded by a reconnaissance drone and military personnel show the video. They attribute this success to better weather conditions than previous missions.
Karpiuk said that earlier HF-1 models also initially produced poor results, but the manufacturer responded to feedback and improved the product. As a result, the HF-1 hit more than 50% of the targets in the Pokrovsk front-line area.
When asked if he would continue working with this drone, Karpiuk replied yes. In his view, the Russians currently have no comparable model to the HX-2. He cites the Russian “kamikaze drone” Lancet as an example.
“In the Lancet, the motor is on the back – it is a pusher motor. The wings on the back also control the drone. Only Helsing has equipped its drones with four forward-facing motors. Why? Because it gives them maneuverability and speed,” says Karpiuk.
This article was originally published in Ukrainian.