Helsing HF-1

The Helsing HF-1 is a plywood-bodied strike drone whose Ukrainian operators described selecting targets manually before autonomous terminal guidance, according to Militarnyi.

Overview

The HF-1 is a plywood-bodied strike drone used by Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, according to Militarnyi. Operators described a preferred operating distance of 45–50 km, approximately 100 km flight range and about one hour airborne in the publication’s April 2025 account. They said crews manually guided the drone to a previously identified target, selected it, and then used autonomous terminal guidance.

It matters for three reasons. It was the airframe on which Helsing's Altra reconnaissance-strike software reached operational maturity in Ukraine, making it the direct ancestor of the HX-2. It was procured at genuine scale — 4,000 units under a 2024 German-financed agreement, built in co-production with a Ukrainian manufacturer rather than shipped from Germany. And its performance record is the most instructive thing about it: early results were poor enough to produce a documented procurement crisis, and later results were good enough that the frontline unit using it kept using it.

An HF-1 contract transition to the HX-2 was described in a November 2025 internal German ministry presentation, according to TVP World’s January 2026 account of Bloomberg’s investigation. The presentation reported that about 40% of delivered HF-1s remained unused in Ukrainian inventory and alleged missing AI components. TVP World also reported that Helsing rejected many findings and said the transition had been planned from the outset; a ministry spokeswoman said leadership had neither reviewed nor approved the presentation.

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