Munich-based defense AI company Helsing and Bremen space prime OHB announced on May 19, 2026, that they have established a joint venture to develop a space-based tactical surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting system, expanding a European consortium first formed in December 2025.
The joint venture carries the working title KIRK, short for ‘Künstliche Intelligenz und Raumfahrt-Kompetenz’, which translates to ‘Artificial Intelligence and Space Competence’. Through KIRK, Helsing and OHB take on joint leadership of an industrial group that also includes Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and HENSOLDT, which OHB now joins as a fourth partner.
The original three-way partnership between Helsing, Kongsberg, and HENSOLDT was announced in December 2025, with a stated aim of building a European space-based tactical targeting capability. The expansion adds OHB’s satellite manufacturing base to a consortium that had previously brought together AI, sensors, and communications expertise.
What KIRK is designed to do
According to the consortium, it is targeting what it calls “time to information,” the latency between collecting reconnaissance data and engaging a target. The proposed solution combines a surveillance constellation with an AI-driven targeting layer, intended to enable near-real-time cueing of stand-off weapons.
The system is described as software-centric, with artificial intelligence used both to manage the constellation and optimize onboard sensor functions in real time. The satellites themselves are envisaged as “software-defined,” meaning that they can be reconfigured in orbit to respond to new threats without hardware changes.
Helsing co-CEO Gundbert Scherf framed the urgency in terms of the war in Ukraine, insisting that it has shown that “we have no time to lose” in fielding integrated defense systems in space.
OHB CEO Marco Fuchs noted that modern space systems built around artificial intelligence have become “a key component” of efforts to make the Bundeswehr the strongest army in Europe.
How the four partners divide the work
Helsing brings AI to space, including on- and offboard data processing, multi-sensor fusion, and automated target recognition. The company has expanded rapidly into defense-adjacent hardware over the past year, unveiling the CA-1 Europa autonomous combat jet in September 2025, and being selected for Germany’s Eurofighter EK electronic warfare program.
OHB will be responsible for the satellite platforms, drawing on its experience with Earth observation, communications, and reconnaissance systems, including Germany’s SARah radar constellation and the Harmony Earth Explorer mission for the European Space Agency.
HENSOLDT contributes space-qualified sensors for all-weather, persistent surveillance, plus mobile ground stations. Kongsberg supplies small satellites, secure communications, C4ISR integration, and access to its global KSAT ground station network.
The consortium shared that it also plans to bring in SMEs, start-ups and other suppliers, a structure that is aligned with Berlin’s stated goal of building a competitive German space economy.
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