MARTINSBURG, W.Va – Defense contractor Helsing has big plans for its development in Berkeley County after announcing it would bring a manufacturing plant to the Eastern Panhandle last week.
The Germany-headquartered company plans to break ground next month in Martinsburg on a facility building its HX-2 AI-enabled strike drone.
“At full rate production, we’ll be able to produce 2,000 strike drones per month. That’s more than any like capability presently being produced in the US today,” Helsing US General Manager Jenny McArdle said last week on MetroNews Talkline.
Helsing plans to employ at least 60 high-skilled, full-time employees, and McArdle noted there are opportunities across the operation. The company is counting on the Eastern Panhandle to fill those roles.
“We’ll need a diversity of talent to support our manufacturing facility in Berkeley County—everything from people working the assembly line and the manufacturing line on the floor, all the way up to people overseeing production and the production process,” McArdle said.
The HX-2 drone continues to be developed with Helsing engineers working alongside Ukrainian soldiers in the fight against Russia. According to McArdle, Helsing is consistently receiving information to improve its technology.
“We’ve actually worked hand-in-glove with the Ukrainians to develop this. We have our four deployed engineers on the front line alongside Ukrainians, where we’re learning from Russian tactics and procedures every single day,” she said.
As Helsing’s production comes to West Virginia, the company is in talks to provide drones to the United States military. McArdle said plans call for Martinsburg production to begin in November.
“We expect the US military to be procuring our product. We are in active negotiations, and I can’t comment on the status of those negotiations, but I feel very confident that the US military will be very happy with the capabilities that are being developed in Berkeley County,” she said.
McArdle credited the willingness of Governor Patrick Morrisey to take a hands-on approach with the project helped make West Virginia the right place for Helsing. She believes the governor’s willingness to guarantee productivity sets the Mountain State apart.
“I want to develop capabilities that get into the hands of our war fighters in a way that meets their needs because that’s how we protect national security, and so the fact that Governor Morrisey is willing to reach in and make sure that we can develop these capabilities and get them into the hands of US military operators as quickly as they need—that really does matter,” McArdle said.