Leonardo and Baykar join forces to develop uncrewed aerial systems

Leonardo and Baykar have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for their joint venture to develop uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

The two companies hinted at “creating synergies” earlier in the year, and according to both Leonardo and Baykar, this venture announcement was the culmination of five months of “intense” discussion.

The partnership will work to leverage and combine Baykar’s UAS platforms with Leonardo’s expertise in mission systems, payload design and related aerospace certifications in Europe. The joint venture would be headquartered in Italy but see Leonardo and Baykar share production and manufacturing processes in Italy and Turkey, according to both companies.

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Baykar’s Akinci UCAV will be the first platform focused on in the joint venture, with technologies merging in “about six months” and a prototype developed in around a year to 18 months, confirmed Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani.

Leonardo already works with Baykar on the Akinci, integrating payloads into the UAV as part of the company’s wider supply chain.

The overall business model is still under development, along with any product roadmap, and will be shaped by requisites from any interested armed forces, Cingolani added.

According to Leonardo, the European market for the next 10 years, covering unmanned fighters, armed surveillance drones, and deep strike drones, is projected to reach US$100 billion.

“Aligned with geostrategic shifts in the world, we saw an opportunity to build the air supremacy of the world with Leonardo,” Seluck Bayraktar, CTO at Baykar, commented. “It’s a big market, and capacities need to be established.”

While both companies confirmed they are in discussions with their respective country’s armed forces, Cingolani downplayed previous media speculation that there would be an Italian order of any drones produced via this partnership.

“All armies are trying to find drone capabilities,” Cingolani remarked. “The offer we have isn’t meant for Italy, but global competitiveness. It would be very short sighted if this were the target of the joint venture.”

Where will this partnership fit alongside Eurodrone and GCAP?

Alongside the joint venture announcement, questions were raised about the possibility for Leonardo to bring Baykar closer to European projects – namely Eurodrone and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).

Commenting on the Eurodrone programme, the venture which Leonardo is a part of to make a larger HALE drone, Cingolani said that any drones designed as part of this joint venture would be “compatible” and “complementary” with it, not a competitor toward European efforts to boost its defence and security.

While Cingolani emphasised Leonardo’s commitment to the Eurodrone programme, he added: “No-one wants to see Europe as a capability which is squeezed. Eurodrone is not enough to guarantee drone competitiveness of the continent. I think we need much more.”

On GCAP, Cingolani said that no decision has been made on any accompanying drone technology to the 6^th generation fighter programme.

“It’s simply too early,” he added. “It would be an opportunity, but it’s definitely not the target [of the joint venture]. [Yet] it’s not too early to start thinking about an uncrewed fighter. So that is the technology challenge that we have, and this is where we are going.”

Related Programmes in Defence Insight

Global Combat Air Programme [Italy]

Eurodrone [Italy]

Related Equipment in Defence Insight

Akinci