Japan's Army Is Testing Helsing's HX-2. An E-Commerce Group Got It in the Door.

Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force is field-testing a German loitering munition already flying in Ukraine, and Helsing reached the procurement system through a retail conglomerate rather than a defense prime.

Rakuten is helping Helsing finalize a sale of unmanned systems to Japan's army, a Rakuten spokesperson told Reuters on Monday. Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force is field-testing the HX-2 strike drone until the end of September.

Helsing said it reached an "initial agreement" for the Japanese government to use its systems earlier this year, crediting an unnamed local brokerage partner. Neither company disclosed the order value or the number of aircraft. Tokyo decides whether to adopt the system after the trials close.

The HX-2 is an electrically powered X-wing loitering munition weighing 12 kilograms, with a stated range up to 100 kilometers and multipurpose, anti-tank and anti-structure payloads. Onboard software searches for, re-identifies and engages a target without a continuous data link, giving it resistance to jamming. A human operator stays in or on the loop for critical decisions. Multiple aircraft network through the company's Altra reconnaissance-strike platform.

That autonomy carries a combat record. Helsing supplies HX-2 drones to Ukraine under German government funding and has run military-led trials in four European countries, per AeroTime. The company rejected reports in January that Ukraine and Germany had suspended further orders after problems in frontline testing.

Rakuten has almost no conventional defense business, which makes it an unusual intermediary between a European munitions maker and Japan's armed forces. Startups face complex procurement systems, difficulty communicating with government agencies and long acquisition cycles, said Hideaki Mukai, chief of staff to Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani. The group had already organized an April demonstration for a Japanese military unit by Swarmer, a US-listed Ukrainian drone-autonomy firm, which coordinated a swarm on a seek-and-hit mission.

Japan eased its arms-export rules this year and is raising defense spending as it looks to counter a more assertive China, drawing foreign suppliers hunting local partners. Helsing, founded in 2021 in Munich, raised $1.8 billion in July at an $18 billion valuation.

Field tests run to the end of September. Nikkei, which first reported the arrangement, wrote that the collaboration could extend to Japanese production of autonomous equipment.