Helsing has revealed the CA-1 Europa, an autonomous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed to deliver “intelligent mass” in future air combat, according to the company.
The full-scale design study of the CA-1 Europa was shown at Helsing’s Grob Aircraft subsidiary in Germany. The company stated that the production version is expected to be operational within four years and is being developed with European aerospace partners.
The platform is described as a three-to-five-ton class jet capable of high subsonic speeds and highly autonomous operations. Helsing said it combines a scalable, mass-produceable airframe with advanced software that integrates sensors, effectors and self-protection systems. It is intended to perform missions independently or as part of a swarm.
Helsing highlighted its “Centaur” AI autonomy stack as central to the CA-1 Europa. The company previously demonstrated Centaur with Saab on the Gripen fighter. The new aircraft will be natively controllable by this system, with Helsing also delivering a command-and-control system for operators to plan and monitor autonomous missions.
The company stated that the CA-1 Europa is suitable for a variety of mission types, including deep precision strike. Helsing’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO Torsten Reil said: “Uncrewed fighter jets will become a key capability for establishing air dominance and keeping us safe. Europe cannot afford to fall behind in this category or become dependent on third parties. With CA-1 Europa, we will make sure this does not happen.”
Helsing’s Senior Director Air Domain, Stephanie Lingemann, said: “The future of combat air is in attritable systems, with software and intelligence as a key enabling technology. As a consequence, the CA-1 Europa has autonomy at its core.”
Helsing’s UK Managing Director, Ned Baker, added that the platform could enhance British capability: “With Grob Aircraft, we already supply essential training aircraft to the Royal Air Force. CA-1 Europa will offer the RAF unprecedented combat air capability – an autonomous collaborative platform that can undertake a number of different missions to protect the UK without putting British pilots in harm’s way.”
The company add that the CA-1 Europa is being developed with a resilient European supply chain to reinforce strategic autonomy. Helsing argued that rising costs and shrinking fighter fleets necessitate a shift to AI-enabled UCAVs, which are less expensive to produce and maintain and remove risk to pilots in high-threat environments.
Helsing said the design study phase has been completed, with development and testing underway at Grob Aircraft.
Another day another ucav/drone nit in actual service.
The real money is in render creation lol
Isn’t it a completion between eNATO doing renders and Mad Vlad building model aircraft carriers?
When HMG finally orders things like this, I will believe the hype.
Till then, I guess we are stuck with model aeroplanes and things like Banshee. I can still recall the Jindivik target Drones that flew from RAE Aberporth and RAE Llanbedr.
Are there actually any Drones along these lines in Ukraine ? I know there are crude Iranian craft and obviously the suicide drones that we all see on Social Media and video sites and I remember those Bayraktar drones early in the fight but are there actually any high end Drones ?
I know. Let’s get a research project going. We haven’t had a new one for at least a fortnight..
More MIC bluster. Deliver something that works, now, not in ten years time. We need mass, cheap cheerful mass that goes bang. Do they pay any attention to what is happening elsewhere?
Isn’t this ‘happening elsewhere’? A German Company working on something we amongst others might be interested in acquiring down the line, rather than buying US or other. TBH I rather wish we were working n something like it ourselves as we have all the capabilities to do so.
Helsing, Van-Helsing… wasn’t he something to do with Dracula?
Terminators live!
Not naming it the Vampire is a missed opportunity
Other News, I see the CEO of Dassault is causing further issues for the SCAF program. Blatantly stating they don’t need other Companies (Countries) to help them build SCAF, they can do it on their own. Not sure if he’s considering the ramifications to the French Treasury if they do go alone?
The French nation is bankrupt and will be odds on to do a Healey and go képi in hand for a bailout. Without German money, how will Dassault and France afford it? Of course, everyone and their uncle predicted this would eventually happen. The French have a history of going back decades of getting a project so far, obtaining funding, learning the technology from their partners that they don’t have, and then engineering a split so production is always based in France, employing French workers. If the French think they can do it themselves, good luck. I do not believe they can. The US and China can do it on their own. France doesn’t have the money, and one would expect the end result will be something between a 5.5 gen platform at most, which will only be able to use French ordinance.
On radio 4, someone who seemed to know about drone warfare stated that it’s constantly changing in regards to Ukraine that you build something it will be counter measured by opposition in numbers of months. He suggested, build of 1000-2000 max of cheap drones and next batch gets modified and modified again etc. The West is doing expensive drones developed over long periods.
Db is it so hard to build stealth fighter nowadays. French would go for export mkts which would want a basic stealth lower maintenance jet with software not beholden to overseas oversight. Well that would be the marketing pitch.
At development at Grob? So Grob made parts won’t fit other vehicles, and 2 weeks out of the year, there is no production so they can go and pick grapes?
Well, Grob are based on the Mindelheim-Mattsies Airfield in Tussenhausen-Mattsies, Bavaria….. so they won’t be closed to pick grapes, rather to go and drink and sing and be generally Bavarian at the Oktoberfest.