German defense company Helsing is making an initial investment of $50 million to establish advanced defense manufacturing operations in Berkeley County Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Monday.
Once operational, the facility is slated to employ 60 full-time positions with an average salary of $125,000 per year producing 2,000 lightweight, AI enabled drones every month.
Speaking at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, Morrisey said this is the next step in West Virginia’s long tradition of supporting the country’s defense.
“For generations, West Virginia has helped defend America by mining the coal that powered our nation and drove it through successfully two world wars,” he said. “Now today we’re helping defend America once again by building the next generation of defense technologies.”
Helsing has already delivered 6,000 of the HX-2 strike drones it plans to produce in West Virginia to the front lines in Ukraine. The U.S. Army also field tested the drones last month in Lithuania.
The governor attributed the company’s choice of West Virginia for its first U.S.-based advanced manufacturing to the state’s speed of development.
“It wasn’t because we promised more money than anyone else, right? It was because of the speed to build mentality. That was what helped do it,” he said. “From the discussions I’ve had, what a difference that makes. We have talented workers. We’re going to do everything imaginable to let people know when they locate in West Virginia that they’re part of the family. They’re going to be treated very fairly right here in West Virginia.”
Jennifer McArdle, general manager of Helsing’s U.S. subsidiary, agreed.
“We’re constantly confronted with a critical truth: modern deterrence isn’t dependent just on advanced technologies; it’s dependent on the industrial capacity to scale that technology with speed,” she said. “I mean, to put it simply, and I think we all know this: factories win wars, and that’s exactly what we want to do in Berkeley County.”
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Helsing is a leading European defense technology company specializing in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, software-defined defense capabilities, advanced sensors and scalable manufacturing. The announcement of the company’s investment in West Virginia was made the same morning that it was announced the company had raised $1.8 billion in funding on an $18 billion valuation. Axios reports that now makes Helsing one of the largest startups in Europe.
