Interview with Stephanie Lingemann, Senior Director Air Domain at Helsing
Dear Ms. Lingemann, what is Helsing’s self-image?
Helsing is now three years old and has become the largest AI and software company in the defense sector in Europe. We continue to grow steadily and currently employ around 250 people. The headquarters is in Munich. We are also present in France and Great Britain. We are a defense company from Europe for Europe to protect our democracies.
Since our founding, our goal has been to provide our armed forces with decisive capability advantages in the most important military applications through technological breakthroughs with AI. We have invested a lot of our own funds in this – and continue to do so. We are now also contracted to a number of programs for this purpose and can also deliver this in the form of traceable, certifiable and secure AI solutions - both for platforms that are already in operation today and for platforms of the next generation.
Helsing is now a growing product company that also supplies technology to the Bundeswehr and partner countries - that motivates the company a lot.
What significance does the ILA have for your company?
The ILA is very important to us. It offers the opportunity to discuss current defense challenges with the armed forces, policy makers and other industry representatives. Specifically, the focus is on the question of how we can use artificial intelligence and software to make a difference in empowering the Air Force. At the ILA 2022 we presented ourselves together with Saab with the focus on Eurofighter EK (Ed.: Electronic Combat). The program is now under contract and represents a technically outstanding milestone: We are bringing neural networks for data processing of a mission-critical subsystem to a European fighter jet.
This year the focus for us will be on introducing AI models for the highly automated collaborative air combat of the future. At our own stand in Hall 3 we will show the advantages of AI-based software both for existing defense systems such as the Eurofighter, but also for future systems such as the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) or the Loyal Wingman.
You mentioned the importance of artificial intelligence for air superiority. What is the current situation and what is the special need for AI and software?
Air superiority has been closely linked to information superiority for several years. And information superiority is becoming an increasingly challenging problem: more data, greater complexity and then increasingly networked operational approaches. AI can step in and provide enormous advantages in crucial skill areas. What do I mean by that specifically?
We all see that the inventory systems used by surgeons today are generating ever larger amounts of data. Evaluation by humans alone and without technological support, including AI, is simply no longer possible.
In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain a clear, unambiguous picture of the situation - the enemy is also evolving. In the electromagnetic spectrum, to give an example, on the other side we are dealing with agile, software-defined radar emitters. Elucidating these signals is becoming more complex and impossible using conventional methods. AI can help with this. We are currently implementing this in concrete solutions in the Eurofighter EK.
Looking forward, we are in a paradigm shift. I not only operate my own individual platform, but also have to manage platforms in a network. The complexity also increases enormously in the way I carry out missions.
What does that mean for you?
In this paradigm shift from “I as an operator control the system” to “I monitor systems in a network”, AI is one of the key technologies to provide support and make the complexity manageable for the human operator again. We need to rely more on AI for specific subtasks.
For example, our Cirra platform can already effectively analyze large amounts of data at sensor and system level. The resulting increased situational awareness can not only be passed on to a human operator as a basis for information and decision-making, but can also be used depending on the situation to adapt selected countermeasures in real time based on AI. Such capabilities can be upgraded to existing systems now, preparing them for future integration into state-of-the-art systems such as FCAS.
But we are also working on more advanced assistance systems that will then offer further support.
What exactly are these developments and where do they originate?
We are convinced that the role of the operator is developing significantly: increasingly from someone who actively controls to someone who monitors a system or entire system networks - in the system of systems. All the tasks and functions that the pilot himself takes on today, such as tactics, flight maneuvers and subsystem control, will in the future be technologically supported by artificial intelligence.
The USA invests in such developments with corresponding programs. We also plan to do this here with FCAS. However, operational capabilities are needed before 2040 and this is also possible if existing systems are enabled through AI upgrades. Because our products and development programs already demonstrate the technological feasibility of leaps in capability. Let's take a look at the Eurofighter, for example: As part of the ongoing upgrade of the ESM system (Ed.: Electronic Support Measures) for cognitive electronic combat, the Eurofighter is given the opportunity to clarify the electromagnetic spectrum on-board through the integration of our AI product Cirra . The use of AI in other subsystems of the Eurofighter, at system level, on other existing platforms or even in the system network, is also conceivable. Technology can and must be retrofitted, as existing systems are only changing with the times and programs like FCAS remain more effective if they can interact smoothly with the existing fleet.
Can you give an example of such a retrofit opportunity?
Let's take the decision support for the pilot in the cockpit, be it integrated directly into the cockpit or with an additional tablet: Important questions such as “What dangerous situation am I in? Now, what are the tactics that will maximize my chances of winning? How does this translate to flight maneuvers and subsystem management?” can already be answered today through AI integration in the form of pilot assistance systems to support the pilot.
It is also important to solve the control of accompanying unmanned flying objects technologically and make it easy for me as a pilot to handle. And then we will move forward step by step to also use these technologies for highly automated control at all levels. Initially, I then use AI capabilities to control my subsystems such as my ESM and radar systems.
The goal, however, is to make complete missions increasingly automated and in conjunction with modern systems such as a Loyal Wingman or FCAS.
Where else do we need to catch up?
I believe another central issue is a sovereign software solution to network all of the Air Force's weapon systems, be it both the flying air force and the ground-based air defense systems. This requires intensive data exchange and management skills in real time. This is something that we in Europe and specifically in Germany must be able to master nationally with sovereignty. How such dangers are combated is essentially a question of technological sovereignty and national doctrine.
That's why I think the European Sky Shield Initiative ESSI as a shield is a good opportunity to implement something like this. This is also a topic related to the question “Where can we be pioneers?” Germany can certainly take a leading role because the corresponding central systems such as IRIS-T and the software for it already come from Germany. But now we also have to address questions such as combating complex drone swarms and other threats of the present and near future. These are essentially AI problems.
Dear Ms. Lingemann,Thank you very much for interesting information.
The interview was conducted by Burghard Lindhorst.