Growing Ukrainian demand for Helsing's HX-2 LT amid Starlink concerns

Helsing's HX-2 loitering munition ready for launch at night. (Helsing)

Demand for German defence company Helsing's HX-2 strike unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is growing among units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) operating near the border with Russia, in areas where Starlink signals are unavailable, a defence industry source told Janes on 14 October 2026.

“Some of our end-users [AFU] praise the system [HX-2] for its ability to hit targets near Donetsk City, which aren't reachable by other drones because of Starlink jamming [by Russia] in that area,” the industry source said. SpaceX said Starlink is not active in Russia in a social media post on 8 February 2024. In 2026, Ukrainian officials sought expanded Starlink connectivity inside Russia to support strikes against Russian ballistic-missile launchers. In September, Finnish President Alexander Stubb urged SpaceX owner Elon Musk to expand Starlink coverage to support such operations.

HX-2 is “Starlink-free and therefore the end-user has complete control,” the source said. Thousands of missions have been flown by the AFU using the HX-2 since October 2025, they added.

During the Sentinel Strike Challenge, which was part of the European Defence Agency's (EDA's) flagship operational experimentation campaign EU OPEX, Helsing told Janes that its HX-2 completed three weeks of testing with a “100% strike rate”. EU OPEX was held with the Portuguese Armed Forces at the Santa Margarida military camp from 21 September to 14 October.

Testing included strikes against moving targets and was conducted under GNSS (global navigation satellite system) jamming that resulted in full GNSS denial, a Helsing representative said. The representative said GNSS denial continued during the approach to the target and at the target