Germany’s Helsing has unveiled two air defense missiles and an artificial intelligence suite designed to organize intercepts against fast attack drones. Company officials said the Contra system is intended to destroy those threats for under $100,000 per shot.

Contra remains in testing, but Helsing expects it to reach market readiness during the second half of 2027. CEO Gundbert Scherf presented the system to reporters during a product event in Cologne, Germany.

The offering enters a growing global market focused on one of air defense’s most punishing calculations. Firing interceptors worth millions of dollars at drones costing only a fraction of that sum is not a sustainable equation over time.

European governments are also eager to purchase equipment produced locally. That demand comes amid fears that American systems such as the Patriot will become increasingly difficult for allies to obtain following the Iran war.

Helsing engineers developed two interceptors for Contra. The AD-1, called Inferno, uses a jet engine, while the AD-2, named Ambush, relies on a solid rocket motor.

According to Scherf, the missiles are designed to defeat a new generation of attack drones that increasingly behave like cruise missiles. Their propulsion systems and seeker technology directly respond to the observed evolution of Russian strike drones used against Ukrainian cities.

Russia’s Geran drones are based on the Iranian Shahed design. The first versions were slow and driven by propellers, allowing Ukrainian air defenders to achieve interception rates of 90%, Scherf said.

That picture has changed in recent months as Russia began producing and deploying thousands of Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones. Those weapons can travel between 400 and 700 kilometers per hour, and almost half now slip through to reach their intended targets, according to Scherf.

Helsing designed Inferno and Ambush to work as complementary weapons rather than duplicate each other. Inferno is envisioned as the regular countermeasure against all but the most sophisticated incoming threats.

Inferno can fly at 700 km/h and has a range of 20 kilometers. That combination is meant to make it the Contra system’s primary interceptor for handling large numbers of attack drones without reaching for a far more expensive missile.

Ambush fills a more urgent role. It can travel at more than twice the speed of sound, or almost 3,000 km/h, allowing it to close rapidly on threats that have passed through earlier defensive layers.

Maxwell Adams, Helsing’s senior product director, said Ambush was built for leakers as a last ditch response. That term refers to incoming threats that are close to striking the ground, leaving defenders with little time to react.

The company is also emphasizing its ability to manufacture Contra in large numbers. Adams said a key feature supporting that goal is the design of the active radar seekers used by both interceptors.

Those seeker components use widely available hardware, company executives said. The approach is intended to spare prospective buyers from concerns involving supply chains connected to China or restrictions imposed through U.S. export controls.

Helsing illustrated one possible Contra engagement through a computer animation shown during Monday’s product launch. In the scenario, 20 Inferno missiles and 40 Ambush missiles launched from shipping containers to intercept a swarm of approaching drones.

The company’s artificial intelligence suite automatically calculated the sequence and distance of the intercepts. That software component is intended to coordinate how the two missile types engage a mass attack rather than leaving the entire problem to individual weapon operators.

Although Helsing expects Contra to be ready for sales in 2027, the system has already attracted at least one customer. Scherf said a contract for Contra had already been signed, even as testing continues ahead of planned market readiness.