Partnership between Baykar and Leonardo may accelerate developement of next generation of UAVs
A large number of Turkish drones designed by the Turkish company Baykar Makina will be produced for the Italian Army. All of them will be produced locally, making Italy the European gateway for Turkish industry.
According to Bloomberg News, the Italian defence and aerospace group Leonardo SpA and the Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar are preparing to announce a partnership in the field of drones. The announcement, scheduled for Thursday March 6th, will include the unveiling of a joint venture focused on the development of high-tech drones. This partnership is part of Baykar’s strategic objective to start manufacturing aircraft and drones with Leonardo SpA, enabling it to establish a stronger presence in the European market. Italy and Turkey have already expressed interest in collaborating on investment partnerships in the defence and aviation sectors.
Greece is contesting the Piaggio’s acquisition by Baykar
The partnership between the Turkish company Baykar and the Italian Leonardo for the joint production of unmanned aerial vehicles for the European market is the next step in the plan for Italy to become a gateway for the Turkish industry to European markets. The first step was Baykar’s recent acquisition of the Italian company Piaggio. Baykar received authorisation from Italy to acquire this aeronautics and defence company in December. This move has recently been contested by Greece. According to diplomatic sources cited by the Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini, Athens is accusing Italy of having ignored EU regulation 2019/452, which requires other Member States to be notified of foreign investments in strategic companies. The operation involves Baykar, a drone company controlled by the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a leader in the development of drones and unmanned aircraft.
Piaggio is known for the design and construction of aircraft and aeronautical engines for military and civil applications. Founded in 1915, Piaggio Aerospace is Italy’s oldest aircraft manufacturer. In early 2010, to address the erosion of its sales in the business aviation market, it launched the development of the P.1 HH Hammerhead, a MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drone derived from its P-180 Avanti II aircraft.
1000–1300 drones for the Italian Army
By the partnership between Baykar and Leonardo, Italy and its companies will gain more access to unmanned aircraft construction technologies. Leonardo, which itself has extensive expertise in the construction of unmanned systemsm, such as the Falco EVO – a persistent uncrewed surveillance asset able to carry a wide selection of multispectral sensors suites allowing reliable Real Time stand-off target detection, classification, identification and shadowing, becoming a valuable information and intelligence node integral with any national C4I network – or the Falco Xplorer belonging to the MALE class, will now gain access to Turkish technologies.
Recently, a statement by the Italian Army Chief of Staff Carmine Masiello appeared in the Italian media, which is difficult to confirm but likely. He announced the purchase of 100 unmanned aerial vehicles for each of the Italian brigades. In total, this would mean 1000–1300 unmanned aerial vehicles, depending on which brigades should be equipped. So far, it is not clear what kind of UAVs would be purchased, but it seems that at least short- and medium-range tactical drones, and possibly also larger ones, are being considered.
This should result in a serious upgrade of capabilities of the Italian land forces, in line with the trends set today by the war in Ukraine. The difference is that all the purchased aircraft will be expensive types produced by the arms industry, not the often improvised devices deployed in Ukraine. It is currently expected that all these new unmanned aerial vehicles will be produced at Piaggio plants bought by the Turkish company Baykar and at Leonardo plants. They are to be built as part of a joint venture. However, all of them would belong to the battle-tested Turkish types, which means the desire to acquire and implement this equipment for service as quickly as possible.
Joint development of new generations of unmanned systems
Thanks to Baykar, Turkey, which has become a key player in the global combat drone market, is strengthening its position. Since 2020, the formidable effectiveness of the Bayraktar TB-2 has been demonstrated during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and then in Ukraine, propelling this drone to the rank of flagship product of the Turkish defence industry. This success has enabled Turkey to establish itself as a key player in a field traditionally dominated by the United States, Israel and China, radically transforming its place on the global geopolitical and military chessboard.
In the long term, the cooperation between Italian and Turkish engineers may result in the development of new generations of unmanned systems, which will probably be introduced to the European market as well as to the Italian and Turkish armed forces. The already existing Turkish projects may also be offered here soon through Italy.
Baykar has presented a completely redesigned version of its famous Bayraktar: the TB2T-AI. This new generation marks a major evolution with the integration of three computers dedicated to artificial intelligence, enabling advanced autonomous capabilities. The TB2T-AI can now navigate by visually analysing the terrain, automatically recognise landing strips, identify targets autonomously and return to base in an emergency without human intervention. These features mark a decisive turning point in the drone war, where the automation of in-flight decisions is becoming strategic.
Italy seems to be the perfect partner for the Turkish defence industry. The country spends more on defence than Turkey, which means there is a lot of potential for increasing the order book. Italy is not only a source of money, but also of technology and it has a rich history of cooperation with the Turkish defence industry. The most striking example is the sale of the AW129 Mangusta light attack helicopter licence to Turkey, which is produced in a modernised version as the T129 ATAK.
Italian companies, led by Leonardo, can also offer a lot, for example in the design of the new generation GCAP (Global Combat Air Program) fighter aircraft. Leonardo is involved in this project as a supplier of electronics solutions and its potential assistance, for example in the design of the Turkish 5th generation Kaan fighter, may prove invaluable. On the other hand, the Turkish contribution, e.g. to the unmanned wingman for GCAP, could also prove to be innovative considering the recently built jet UAVs.
