Underwater drones from Plymouth: Helsing builds “Resilience Factory” in England

German defence and IT start-up Helsing plans to produce underwater drones in a “Resilience Factory” in Plymouth, England. At the same time, the company announced it would accelerate its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) in the United Kingdom.

The factory in south-west England is due to open this year, doubling the size of Helsing’s UK business. The investment of 350 million pounds (408 million euros) is intended to strengthen the Trinity House Agreement, which expresses Britain’s realignment towards Europe. The aim is to equip allied naval forces with AI-controlled miniature submarines that protect critical underwater infrastructure.

SG-1 Fathom: underwater drones as silent scouts

Helsing had already presented SG-1 Fathom in May 2025, an underwater glider made of pressed plastic, 195 centimetres long and weighing 60 kilograms. Without propellers, it moves by air circulation – almost silently and at 1 to 2 knots. Using hydrophones, the drone gathers intelligence, for example on enemy submarines or other underwater activity.

The data is analysed by the AI software Luca developed by Helsing, which builds on the company’s extensive experience in air and land surveillance.

Helsing was founded in Munich in 2021; the company now has offices in Berlin, London and – since 2025 – Plymouth. Since 2023, Helsing has been working with the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) to provide AI-based decision support for tactical operations, for example in the real-time analysis of drone data.

Digitalising and defending the oceans

To protect against growing underwater threats, defence must be designed differently in future, in the view of Amelia Gould, General Manager of Helsing Maritime: “At Helsing we know how important it is to learn and adapt from every deployment. Lura and SG-1 will form a constantly evolving mission cycle and learn from every deployment to keep pace with the threat – a true 21st-century defence capability.”

At the core of Helsing’s Lura is an acoustic neural network that works in a similar way to large language models. According to Gould, this enables Lura to classify and locate acoustic signatures – the sounds produced by ships and submarines – “with unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy”. Even differences between individual ships of the same class are said to be detectable; acoustic signals up to ten times quieter than with conventional systems are now recognised.

Hundreds of gliders networked together

Lura is deployed on the SG-1 Fathom. According to the manufacturer, the new autonomous underwater glider can patrol continuously for up to three months, for example to monitor critical infrastructure such as pipelines and subsea cables.

According to Helsing, missions can be flown with hundreds of SG-1 Fathoms. Gould explains: “The combined system forms a constellation of mobile sensors below the water surface – comparable to satellites in orbit – and thus digitalises the marine environment.”

A tenth of the cost of manned patrols

A single operator can control the glider swarm, at only ten per cent of the cost of conventional manned anti-submarine patrols. Lura and SG-1 are to be deployable from the North Sea and the Baltic to the deep-sea areas of the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.

Because they are comparatively cheap to produce, the underwater gliders can be manufactured in large numbers. Given growing threats from the Russian and Chinese navies, comprehensive surveillance of maritime areas is of decisive importance.

To deliver the first Lura and SG-1 built in the port city of Plymouth this year, Helsing is working with Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems, Ocean Infinity and Qinetiq.