DSEI 2025: Systematic and Helsing partner to offer sensor-to-shooter capability

On 10 September 2025, Systematic and Helsing announced that they were partnering to offer a type of sensor-to-shooter capability based around the two companies’ software platforms. This is intended to be used with networked intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and effectors such as Helsing’s HX-2 loitering munitions.

As confirmed by Dr Maxwell Adams, Director of Product Management at Helsing, the offering comprises Systematic’s SitaWare software suite to provide the user with the operational picture, and conducting task allocation; while Helsing’s Altra software suite is used for strike package selection and control.

The way the two work in concert can be shown with an example scenario of guarding an intersection, as explained by Adams. An operator within a headquarters (HQ) unit, would select a mission (guarding an intersection in this case), select the geographically-delimited area to be guarded, then pass this task to a local command and control (C2) section via the shared common operational picture in SitaWare. Once the local C2 unit has received its task in SitaWare, the local operator is able to review the task and synchronise it with Helsing’s Altra software – in the process also synchronising the operational picture from SitaWare with Altra. Once synchronised, the operator would switch to the Altra interface.

Within the Altra interface, the operator would then task an ISR section (in this example equipped with two ISR UAVs) with reconnoitring the area of interest. As the drones move over the area of interest, artificial intelligence (AI) is used to process the UAVs’ sensor data in real-time, detecting targets of interest such as vehicles and passing imagery/other relevant data to the operator for review and classification of the targets as friendly or (as in this example) hostile. As the operator reviews and classifies detected targets, the operational picture from Altra is synchronised with SitaWare and passed to the local C2 section. The local C2 operator would then mark the classified hostile forces as a target within SitaWare, and pass this onto the HQ unit to await permission to prosecute the target. HQ would then review and approve or deny the request through SitaWare, passing the task to the local C2 section.

Once the strike has been approved to go ahead, the local C2 operator would select the strike package within Altra – in the example used, a swarm of 10 HX-2 loitering munitions was selected, with AI being used to generate optimal flight plans for each munition against each target. The task is then passed to the strike section (equipped with HX-2s in this case), through Altra. The loitering munitions are synchronised with their mission data, again via Altra, and launched. Once launched, the flight paths are synchronised with the common operational picture in SitaWare. Operators would also be able to re-task drones in flight, for instance to engage newly-discovered threats or targets of opportunity detected by the ISR UAVs. Once the targets have been engaged, the ISR drones can be used to conduct battle damage assessment, and the local operator is able to then review the assessment and mark the targets as destroyed, with the data then synchronised through SitaWare into the common operational picture.

While HX-2 is understood to be the only effector for the land warfare realm which is currently natively integrated with Altra. However, Helsing also offer third-party effector integration through open interfaces. This would allow, for instance being able to integrate the software with networked artillery platforms, and Helsing claims it is able to provide automated fires correction for artillery (presumably only for those with an automatic gun-laying capability). By layering Altra on top of SitaWare, the partnership between Systematic and Helsing offers existing SitaWare users the option to expand their reconnaissance-strike capabilities with Altra.

Mark Cazalet