A future European defence is being born in Munich

Bavarian defence startups illustrate Germany’s transformation and the new nature of warfare. Four and a half years ago, Germany was ridiculed when, a month before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it sent the threatened country only 5,000 military helmets as a gift in response to its calls for weapons. Sending arms to conflict zones in eastern Europe was at that time taboo for Germans for historical reasons – even at a moment when Russia’s blatant aggression against its smaller neighbour was clearly

Cut to the present: German chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised to build the strongest army on the continent in his country. He wants to meet the Nato commitment of defence spending at 3.5 percent of GDP already in 2030, five years earlier than required, and within a few years the German military budget will be larger than the British and French ones combined. The defence company Helsing, together with Ukrainian partners, is producing thousands of attack drones; Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited its production line near Munich this February. The startup Tytan Technologies will open a factory in the spring that is to become Europe’s main producer of smart defensive drones. ARX Robotics is also leading supplier of unmanned military vehicles to Ukraine and is building there – in its own words – “the world’s largest connected military robotic fleet”. What all three companies have in common is that they are based in Munich and have grown up or even been founded only after the start of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war. In recent months, the Bavarian capital has been turning into a centre of an unexpected boom in defence startups, illustrating both Germany’s transformation and Europe’s intensified push for security sovereignty. The founders of the Munich comet Tytan Technologies do not come from Germany. Hungarian Balázs Nagy and Turk Batuhan Yumurtaci arrived here about 10 years ago to study at the top-ranked Technical University (TUM München). “When you come from the outside, you may see more clearly than local students the enormous potential that the university and the city offer,” said Nagy said during a meeting at the company headquarters on the outskirts of in Munich, adding: “People coming from abroad tend to be more entrepreneurial than locals; that applies across the world. You already have a chunk of your life behind you and you dared to start somewhere else – so it is more likely you will also dare to start a business.” The startup TYTAN Technologies will open a factory this spring, which is expected to become the main European manufacturer of smart defense drones. Source: TYTAN Technologies Already during his studies, Nagy was interested in the social potential of drones: he thought about the possibilities of quickly transporting medical equipment to those in need.

Key points

• Cut to the present: German chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised to build the strongest army on the continent in his country.
• He wants to meet the Nato commitment of defence spending at 3.5 percent of GDP already in 2030, five years earlier than required, and within a few years the German military budget will be larger th…
• The defence company Helsing, together with Ukrainian partners, is producing thousands of attack drones; Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited its production line near Munich this February.
• The startup Tytan Technologies will open a factory in the spring that is to become Europe’s main producer of smart defensive drones.
• ARX Robotics is also leading supplier of unmanned military vehicles to Ukraine and is building there – in its own words – “the world’s largest connected military robotic fleet”.