Europe’s defence industry bets on artificial intelligence and satellites to provide crucial battlefield intelligence. It is necessary to plug a dangerous gap in the Union’s security. The German project Artificial Intelligence and Space Competence is the latest iteration of the effort.
Two of Europe’s most prominent defence and space companies have joined forces to build what they describe as a sovereign, AI-powered reconnaissance and targeting system in orbit. Helsing, a Munich-based artificial intelligence ‘alpha-unicorn’ focused on defence, and OHB, a Bremen-based satellite manufacturer, announced in 2026 the creation of a joint venture operating under the name KIRK—short for Künstliche Intelligenz und Raumfahrt-Kompetenz, or Artificial Intelligence and Space Competence.
The two companies will co-lead a four-member consortium that also includes Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, the Norwegian defence electronics group, and HENSOLDT, the German sensor and electronics specialist. OHB joins an alliance that Helsing, Kongsberg, and HENSOLDT first announced in December 2025.
Still missing
The project addresses a problem that has become impossible to ignore. Modern warfare, as demonstrated in Ukraine, depends heavily on the ability to find targets quickly, track them in near-real time and pass that information to weapons systems fast enough to matter. Traditional reconnaissance—ground-based radar, manned aircraft, or even older-generation satellites—is too slow and too limited for that task. What militaries now need is a continuous, space-based picture of the battlefield, processed by artificial intelligence and delivered directly to the people and systems that act on it. Europe, by most assessments, does not yet have that.
“Space capabilities are a core element of any modern defence arsenal,” writes the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, known by its German acronym SWP Berlin. “There are four core capabilities based on satellite services: communications, intelligence, navigation and missile early warning. Europe remains highly dependent on the US, particularly in the areas of intelligence, navigation and early warning.” That assessment captures the strategic problem that KIRK is likely to solve.
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The war in Ukraine sharpened that diagnosis into something more urgent. It showed, in real time, how satellite data flows directly into targeting decisions—and how a country or alliance without sovereign access to such data must rely on others to provide it.
The European Union’s Strategic Compass and the European Defence Fund’s 2025 work programme both now prioritise what defence planners call ISR constellations—ISR standing for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance—alongside AI-enabled decision loops, as instruments of what Brussels terms strategic autonomy: the ability to act independently without depending on external powers for critical capabilities. The EU Space Strategy for Security and Defence, published by the European External Action Service, makes that ambition explicit.
Berlin makes a move
“Since 2016, the European Union has demonstrated a will, intent, and capability to exploit the space domain for civil and military use (…), particularly in the areas of ballistic missiles, early warning systems, dual-use spacecraft, satellite communications, SSA, and remote sensing,” according to an analysis published by the United States Air University’s Journal of European, Middle Eastern and African Affairs. SSA, or space situational awareness, refers to the ability to monitor and understand what is happening in orbit: who has what satellites, where they are, and whether any interference is taking place.
Germany’s own posture has shifted accordingly. Its first-ever Space Safety and Security Strategy, published in late 2024, set out a new framework for how the country approaches the domain. “Its most remarkable aspect is the straightforward recognition of Outer Space not only as a potential arena for global conflicts but increasingly as the centre of conflict itself,” noted a legal-and-policy analysis by Verfassungsblog, a bridge between government, academia, and the general public. That is a significant rhetorical and doctrinal shift for a country that has historically been cautious about the militarisation of space (no Lebensraum jokes, please!).
Europe remains highly dependent on the US, particularly in the areas of intelligence, navigation and early warning. — SWP Berlin
“The sustainable, peaceful, and responsible use of space is a central pillar of German policy. (…) This includes a clear strategic vision based on a realistic assessment of risks and threats, the prioritisation of security in Germany’s overall approach to space, the provision of sufficient expertise, financial resources, and the necessary capabilities for the German Armed Forces, greater involvement of commercial actors, and close cooperation with international partners,” according to an analysis published by War on the Rocks, a military-oriented web publication.
How the system will work
KIRK’s architecture is built around a constellation of small, software-defined satellites. It means that their functions can be updated and reprogrammed from the ground, allowing them to adapt to new threats or new mission requirements without physical modification.
Artificial intelligence manages the overall system: it decides which sensors to activate, processes data on board the satellite before transmitting it, and sends only what the system classifies as ‘mission-ready’ information to the ground. This reduces both the time it takes for information to arrive and the bandwidth required to transmit it. Defence analyses describe the project as bringing the Bundeswehr’s kill-chain—the sequence of steps from detecting a target to engaging it—into orbit.
On the ground, data flows into national or NATO command-and-control nodes—the systems through which military commanders receive information and issue orders—via what engineers call C4ISR integration. C4ISR stands for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance: the full chain of systems that connects sensors to decision-makers to weapons.
Division of labour
Each consortium member brings a distinct set of capabilities. Helsing supplies the AI stack, i.e., the software architecture for both on-board and ground-based data processing, including automated target recognition and multi-sensor fusion. That is the ability to combine data from different types of sensors into a single coherent picture.
OHB builds the satellite platforms and manages end-to-end space systems for Earth observation, communications, navigation and reconnaissance. HENSOLDT contributes space-qualified sensors capable of operating in all weather conditions, including synthetic aperture radar—a type of radar that produces high-resolution images regardless of cloud cover or darkness—alongside mobile ground stations.
Space systems are essential to making the Bundeswehr the strongest and most modern army in Europe. — Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB
Kongsberg’s contribution includes access to KSAT, its global ground station network, which operates across 26 sites with more than 280 antennas, providing the low-latency downlinks—fast, reliable data connections—that the system requires. The goal is a closed loop from detection to engagement, what the industry calls a ‘sensor-to-shooter’ chain, in under 30 seconds for time-critical targets.
The latter provides satellite buses, secure communications and the KSAT ground network. The full division of labour among the four partners has won plaudits in specialist defence coverage of the announcement.
What Europe stands to gain
“The war in Ukraine demonstrates how important space-based targeting is,” said Gundbert Scherf, co-CEO and co-founder of Helsing. “It also shows that we have no time to lose and must deliver integrated defence systems in space—systems whose performance is built on software capabilities—as quickly as possible.” Mr Scherf added: “We must ensure that Europe wins the battle for sovereignty in orbit. OHB and Helsing will make sure of that together with their strong consortium partners.”
Marco Fuchs, chief executive officer of OHB, framed the project in terms of the Bundeswehr’s modernisation ambitions. “Space systems are essential to making the Bundeswehr the strongest and most modern army in Europe,” he said. “For the challenges that armed forces face today, fast, precise data is indispensable—and modern space systems, implemented with artificial intelligence, are a key component of that.” The Bundeswehr’s follow-on SPOCK 2 multi-sensor programme is considered the probable flagship customer for the KIRK system.
The project also fits within a broader European funding architecture. The European Defence Fund’s 2025 work programme includes a dedicated €66m line for a space-based ISR constellation, which analysts regard as the natural EU-level complement to KIRK-type national efforts. The European Space Agency has also set aside a 2026 budget line for defence-relevant ISR research and development. Taken together, these funding streams reduce the financial risk for the consortium while anchoring the project within EU institutional priorities.
Rules for a new domain
The regulatory picture is more complicated. The EU AI Act, which came into force in stages from 2024, formally exempts military applications from its requirements. But the act’s underlying logic—risk-based assessment, human oversight, transparency—is expected to shape how dual-use space systems, those with both civilian and military applications, are certified and operated in practice. By 2028 or 2029, the European Commission is expected to propose a complementary Defence-AI Governance Framework that would set minimum human-control thresholds for AI-enabled military systems, closing the current exemption gap.
(German space efforts’) most remarkable aspect is the straightforward recognition of Outer Space not only as a potential arena for global conflicts but increasingly as the centre of conflict itself. — Verfassungsblog
Interoperability with NATO is another variable. Seventeen NATO allies are currently developing the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space initiative, known as APSS—described by the alliance as the largest multinational investment in space-based capabilities in NATO’s history. APSS will draw on a virtual constellation of national and commercial satellites called Aquila to feed the alliance’s intelligence ecosystem. KIRK’s architects will need to ensure their system can share data with APSS without surrendering the European control that is the project’s political raison d’être.
KIRK, with its deliberate inclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises and startups, is a direct expression of that intention. It is an attempt to build not just a weapons-support system, but a competitive European space economy around it. Given Germany’s economic and political clout, the ambition is, for all hindrances ahead, as good as Europe can get. Just as importantly, it promises to be as quick as it gets, in production and in battle.
