Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius, together with the HENSOLDT Executive Board, today opened the new HENSOLDT campus in Oberkochen.
The new building brings together the development, manufacture, and integration of optronic systems under one roof and provides space for just under nine hundred employees.
HENSOLDT has invested around three hundred million euros in the project. As well as the opening ceremony, the programme included discussions with employee representatives, apprentices, and the Group’s management, as well as a tour of the production facilities.
“HENSOLDT is doing exactly what we expect from our defence industry in these times, namely: increasing production capacities and scaling them up further. This is being done with the clear aim of becoming more independent in defence technology and delivering premium quality,” said Defence Minister Pistorius.
Oliver Dörre, CEO of HENSOLDT, said: “In Oberkochen, we combine decades of precision manufacturing with the speed of modern software. This is precisely the combination that Germany and Europe need right now: next-generation defence capabilities, developed and manufactured right here in Germany. This visit is a tribute to the 10,000 people at HENSOLDT who, through their work every day, contribute to the security of our country.”
The Defence Minister was briefed on the latest developments in the fields of optronic and radar-based reconnaissance, as well as electromagnetic warfare and AI-based sensor data fusion. Amongst other things, the high-performance TRML-4D radar and the MDOcore Battle-Truck, which demonstrates HENSOLDT’s current software and AI capabilities, were presented. The common thread linking these systems is the MDOcore software suite, which networks sensors, weapon systems and command levels across the land, air, sea, cyber and space domains, and fuses sensor data into a shared situational picture within seconds. In this field, HENSOLDT is collaborating, amongst others, with the defence software company Helsing, whose CA-1 unmanned combat aircraft was on display as a mock-up.
For decades, Oberkochen has been synonymous with German optical and optronic precision. The new campus brings this expertise together whilst also creating capacity for series production, for which the Bundeswehr and NATO partners currently have high demand. Building on this foundation, HENSOLDT is expanding its role as a ‘neo-systems house.’ The company bridges the gap between the established defence industry – with its experience in certified development and reliable series production – and the software sector, which delivers in weeks rather than years.
