Leonardo has announced an expanded partnership with Türkiye’s Baykar to co-produce its unmanned aircraft portfolio in Italy, under a new venture called LBA Systems. The plan includes final assembly lines for Baykar’s TB2, TB3, Akinci, and the jet-powered Kizilelma, creating a European manufacturing and certification ecosystem that blends Baykar’s UAV designs with Leonardo’s integration and compliance expertise.
Presented in Leonardo’s 3Q/9M 2025 financial results, the alliance marks a significant shift—relocating portions of Baykar’s UAV production to Italy and enabling European-standard certification and systems integration. This transition transforms Italy from an operator to a manufacturing partner across multiple UAV classes, from tactical drones to advanced UCAVs, reinforcing Europe’s supply resilience and regulatory alignment.
LBA Systems is structured to unify platform production, certification, and mission-system integration under one framework. While awaiting final approvals, teams from both companies are coordinating on payload alignment and platform harmonization across reconnaissance, strike, and loyal-wingman categories.
The joint roadmap covers five priority domains: UAV serial production and assembly, composite structure fabrication, certification engineering, multi-domain command-and-control systems, and lifecycle support. The objective is to field scalable, export-compliant UAV systems designed for interoperability and certification within Europe and beyond.
