Image: Helsing
The KIRK joint venture pairs Europe’s leading AI defence firm with its foremost space group, aiming to close a critical gap in battlefield reconnaissance and targeting.
British AI defence company Helsing and European space group OHB have established a joint venture to develop a space-based tactical surveillance and targeting system. Working under the title KIRK, an acronym drawn from the German for Artificial Intelligence and Space Competence, the two firms are combining their respective expertise to field a capability that links orbital reconnaissance directly to AI-driven targeting.
The venture addresses what defence planners identify as a critical gap on the modern battlefield. Traditional reconnaissance methods no longer deliver the speed or precision that contemporary operations demand. KIRK will fuse space-based surveillance with an AI targeting layer to enable near-real-time engagement cycles for stand-off weapons.
An Expanded Consortium
OHB’s entry builds on a partnership formed in December 2025, when Helsing, Norwegian firm Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, and German sensor specialist HENSOLDT agreed to develop a European space-based targeting architecture. OHB now joins that group, with Helsing and OHB assuming joint leadership of the expanded consortium.
The consortium’s stated priority is to reduce the delay between data collection and target engagement, a metric practitioners refer to as time to information. The programme takes a software-defined approach throughout. Satellites will be reconfigurable in orbit, enabling them to respond to emerging threats. Artificial intelligence will govern the overall system, optimise onboard functions in real time, and automate target recognition.
Partner Contributions
Each member brings a distinct set of capabilities to the programme. Helsing supplies combat-proven AI for real-time on- and offboard data processing, multi-sensor fusion, and automated target recognition. OHB takes responsibility for turnkey end-to-end space systems, covering Earth observation, communications, navigation, and advanced payload development. HENSOLDT provides space-qualified all-weather sensors, high-precision Earth observation instruments, and mobile ground stations. Kongsberg contributes small satellites, secure communications, C4ISR integration, and a global ground station network through its KSAT subsidiary.
The partners also plan to draw in small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups, and specialist suppliers from an early stage. That approach is designed to embed emerging innovation into the broader system while advancing Germany’s goal of building a technically competitive space economy.
A Question of Sovereignty
The announcement lands against a backdrop of growing European urgency around sovereign military space capability. Gundbert Scherf, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Helsing, said the war in Ukraine had made the importance of space-based targeting impossible to ignore. Delivering integrated defence systems built on software capabilities at speed was now essential, he added, according to Helsing. “We must ensure that Europe wins the battle for sovereignty in orbit.”
OHB Chief Executive Marco Fuchs linked the venture directly to Germany’s broader defence ambitions. Space systems are essential to building the Bundeswehr into the strongest and most modern army in Europe, he said, and AI-enabled space architecture is a key component of delivering the fast, precise data that modern armed forces require, according to OHB.
KIRK moves into development as European governments increase investment in defence space infrastructure and look to reduce reliance on US commercial and military satellite systems. No programme timeline or contract value was disclosed.
Read more on Helsing’s website
