Helsing teams up with Rakuten in pursuit of Japan's autonomous-drone procurement

A Helsing-Rakuten partnership has been formed to approach Japan's procurement path for the HX-2 system, reports said on August 17, 2026. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is testing it; there is no final contract or operational deployment yet.

Why it matters: cross-border competition in software-defined uncrewed systems is increasing.

Autonomy level, human control, testing and integration remain open procurement questions.