European tech leaders Helsing and Mistral have formed a pact to build new military AI systems.The partnership brings together two of Europes top startups. Helsing, a defence tech firm based in Germany, was valued at 5bn last year. Founded in 2021, the company develops software for weapons, vehicles, and military strategy. Its systems have been deployed in battlefield simulations, fighter jets, and drones in Ukraine.Mistral, meanwhile, is widely considered Europes closest competitor to OpenAI. The French startup has also become a favourite of investors, raising at 600mn at a valuation of 5.8bn last year.The partners announced their alliance today at a landmark AI summit in Paris. In a statement, they pledged to develop systems for the defence of Europe.Their collaboration will focus on vision-language-action (VLA) models. An emerging field of AI, VLA blends visual perception, language understanding, and outputs for robotics.Register NowHelsing and Mistral will bring the models into defence platforms. The startups said the integration will boost decision-making, understanding of environments, and communication with operators.Military AI on the rise in EuropeHelsing and was signed amid a boom for European defence tech. Anxieties around Russias imperial ambitions and Donald Trumps threats to NATO have led military budgets to soar across the continent.Last month, the European Commission allocated over 1bn to defence R&D projects. VC spending on military tech is also surging in Europe.A big chunk of these funds is flowing towards AI systems. Helsing, for instance, raised a whopping 450mn last June. By combining forces with Mistral, the startup plans to shape the future of defence tech.Europe needs to assert its strength as a geopolitical actor, and AI leadership is the key to that strength and Europes future security and prosperity, said Gundbert Scherf, co-founder of Helsing.As Europes fastest and most ambitious companies in the space, we will advance this leadership for the next generation of defence systems. Defence tech is a key theme of this years Assembly, the invite-only policy track of TNW Conference. The event takes place on June 19 and 20 a week before the NATO Summit arrives in Amsterdam. Tickets for TNW Conference are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 for an exclusive subscriber discount. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with