Bundestag Approves Helsing HX-2 and Stark Defence Virtus Loitering Munition Procurement
Berlin, 25 February 2026
Key points
- Bundestag Haushaltsausschuss on 25 February approved initial €540 million in Bundeswehr loitering munition orders — approximately €270 million to Helsing for 4,300 HX-2 units and €270 million to Stark Defence for 2,200 Virtus units — as the first drawdown from a framework valued at up to €4.4 billion for a five-digit number of systems through 2029
- Committee imposed a Maßgabebeschluss (binding resolution) capping purchases at €1 billion per manufacturer and requiring renewed parliamentary approval before further disbursement; first deliveries scheduled for early 2027
- Initial focus: equipping the German brigade deployed in Lithuania (Panzerbrigade 45); Green party raised concerns about US investor Peter Thiel's stake in Stark Defence
The Bundestag Haushaltsausschuss on 25 February approved initial €540 million in Bundeswehr loitering munition contracts — approximately €270 million each to Helsing (4,300 HX-2 units) and Stark Defence (2,200 Virtus units) — as the first drawdown from a framework valued at up to €4.4 billion through 2029, under a Maßgabebeschluss capping disbursement at €1 billion per manufacturer and requiring renewed parliamentary approval at each call-off.
The HX-2 family is the principal Helsing loitering-munition platform; the Stark Defence Virtus is the parallel medium-range loitering munition under separate development. Initial deliveries are scheduled to begin in early 2027, subject to acceptance trials and verification procedures. The framework runs through 2029 and is sized for a five-digit number of systems across the two manufacturers. Initial procurement priority is equipping the German brigade deployed in Lithuania, Panzerbrigade 45.
The Maßgabebeschluss is the structural element. The €1 billion per-manufacturer cap and the requirement for renewed parliamentary approval before further disbursement convert what would otherwise be a single framework award into a Bundestag-controlled tranche-by-tranche release. The committee approved the industrial base while retaining veto authority over scale — control-by-instalment as the governance template that resolves the tension between Berlin's procurement-speed requirements and parliamentary oversight demands.
The Green party publicly raised concerns about US investor Peter Thiel's stake in Stark Defence during the committee discussion — a political marker that the Maßgabebeschluss structure also responds to. Whether the loitering-munition framework architecture generalises to Bundeswehr procurement for FV-014 (Rheinmetall, Neuss series production from May 2026) and broader strike-drone classes is the test variable through 2027. A track first surfaced in Helsing's HX-2 drone wall proposal for NATO's eastern flank.
Sources: Deutscher Bundestag Haushaltsausschuss, Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, Helsing GmbH, Stark Defence.
First reported in Signal No. 2, 25 February 2026.