Leonardo Chief Executive Officer Roberto Cingolani said the first medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicles to be produced with Türkiye’s Baykar are expected to emerge around April, adding that a large market is waiting for European-certified drones.
Cingolani spoke after presenting Leonardo’s 2026 industrial plan to shareholders and investors on Thursday and later answered questions from Anadolu Agency (AA).
"The joint venture with Baykar is progressing according to the roadmap we established,” Cingolani said. "First, medium-sized drones capable of carrying payloads of several hundred kilograms will be produced. We expect the first production to take place in April at the facility in Ronchi dei Legionari.”
He added that production of the unmanned aerial vehicles would not be limited to a single location.
"We are also preparing additional production areas in Liguria and in southern Italy,” he said. "Other types of vehicles will also be produced there.”
Cingolani pointed to strong interest in European-made drones, noting that the aircraft will receive certification in Italy that will also make them eligible for use across Europe.
"All of these will be certified in Italy, meaning they will also hold certification for Europe,” he said. "At the moment, there is a very large market waiting for European drones to be produced.”
Asked about the possibility of Türkiye joining the European Union’s joint defense financing program known as Security Action for Europe at a time when Leonardo and Baykar are developing UAVs with joint European certification, Cingolani said the issue was political rather than industrial.
"I don’t know. That is a political matter,” he said. "We operate as an industry. We have an industrial joint venture and we are working with a company with which we have strong synergies to produce something that Europe currently lacks.”
Describing the partnership with Baykar as "highly complementary,” Cingolani said the Turkish firm develops the flying platform while Leonardo provides the intelligence systems and sensor technology.
"They build the flying platform, while we develop all the intelligence systems and sensor technology,” he said. "Everything required to make it effective is certified in Italy. For us, that is sufficient. Whether it becomes part of the SAFE mechanism is not our concern.”
Cingolani also said the drones produced jointly with Baykar could eventually play a role in Leonardo’s artificial intelligence-enabled air defense system known as the Michelangelo Dome, which the company unveiled publicly on Nov. 27, 2025, and plans to test for the first time in Ukraine later this year.
"When these drones are ready, of course it will be possible to integrate them into the Michelangelo system,” he said. "Drones with different capabilities can certainly be integrated into the air shield. There is no doubt about that.”