Leonardo to set up aerostructures joint venture by mid-year

ROME — Italian defense giant Leonardo aims to set up its long planned aerostructures joint venture with an unnamed partner by June, CEO Roberto Cingolani has said, promising the new firm will be one of the world’s top three of its kind.

“Our partner is both financial and industrial, and they have a strong demand for civil as well as military aviation components, rotorcraft and potentially space in the near future,” Cingolani said.

He was speaking at a conference call with analysts after Leonardo announced preliminary results for 2025 which included new orders of €23.8 billion ($28.09 billion), up 14.5% and beating forecasts, helped by work on the sixth-generation GCAP program .

Revenues rose 11% to €19.5 billion, also beating targets, as Leonardo profits from rising defense spending around the world.

The firm’s civilian aerostructures unit has however been a loss maker in recent years, hurt by a slowdown in production of the Boeing 787 for which it supplies structures.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has been widely rumored to be the would-be partner in talks to come on board the unit.

Last year Cingolani said the deal would be signed off by the end of 2025, but on Wednesday he told analysts it would now happen by June, since an exclusivity clause in the talks expired then.

“The idea is to create a joint venture which will be 50-50 at the beginning, an international company,” he said, adding that the partner could then increase its stake as staff were trained, new components were certified and activity was transferred by Leonardo.

“We will transfer some technology to the partner’s plants so we expect a smooth transition,” he said, adding, “The timing depends on results.”

Leonardo’s market for aerostructures would grow threefold thanks to the joint venture, he said. “This will open to big markets in their domain,” he said, adding, “We will be in the top three in the world.”

Cingolani said, “I expect to see a positive impact on the 2026 balance sheet.”

The Italian CEO said Leonardo was also concluding its purchase of Italian vehicle builder Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV), initiated last year, and was now discussing selling IDV’s military trucks unit to Germany’s Rheinmetall.

“The truck business has good margins, 12% to 13%, and there is an interesting backlog,” Cingolani said.

Leonardo and Rheinmetall are already planning to build 1,050 new infantry fighting vehicles for the Italian army based on the Rheinmetall Lynx, and 132 tanks based on Rheinmetall’s under-development Panther KF51.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——意大利国防巨头莱昂纳多公司首席执行官罗伯托·辛戈拉尼表示，该公司计划在6月前与一家未透露名称的合作伙伴成立其筹划已久的航空结构合资企业，并承诺新公司将成为全球同类企业中的前三名。

“我们的合作伙伴既是金融巨头又是工业巨头，他们对民用和军用航空部件、旋翼机以及未来可能涉及的太空领域都有着强劲的需求，”辛戈拉尼说道。

在莱昂纳多公布 2025 年初步业绩后，他与分析师举行了电话会议。业绩包括 238 亿欧元（280.9 亿美元）的新订单，增长 14.5%，超出预期，这得益于第六代 GCAP 项目的进展。

由于全球国防开支不断增长，莱昂纳多公司的收入增长了 11%，达到 195 亿欧元，也超过了预期目标。

然而，近年来，该公司的民用航空结构部门一直处于亏损状态，原因是其为波音 787 飞机提供结构件，而波音 787 的生产速度放缓，对该部门造成了打击。

有传言称，沙特阿拉伯主权财富基金可能是参与谈判、加入该部门的潜在合作伙伴。

去年，辛戈拉尼表示该交易将在 2025 年底前签署，但周三他告诉分析师，由于谈判中的排他性条款届时到期，该交易现在将在 6 月份完成。

“我们的想法是创建一个合资企业，一开始双方各占50%的股份，成为一家国际公司，”他说道，并补充说，随着员工接受培训、新部件获得认证以及莱昂纳多公司逐步转移业务，合作伙伴可以增加其股份。

“我们将向合作伙伴的工厂转移一些技术，因此我们预计过渡会很顺利，”他说道，“具体时间取决于结果。”

他表示，合资企业将使莱昂纳多公司在航空结构领域的市场份额增长三倍。“这将为他们打开该领域的巨大市场，”他补充道，“我们将跻身世界前三。”

Cingolani表示：“我预计这将对2026年的资产负债表产生积极影响。”

这位意大利首席执行官表示，莱昂纳多公司也即将完成对意大利汽车制造商依维柯防务车辆公司（IDV）的收购，该收购始于去年，目前正在讨论将IDV的军用卡车部门出售给德国莱茵金属公司。

“卡车业务利润率不错，在 12% 到 13% 之间，而且积压订单也很多，”辛戈拉尼说。

莱昂纳多和莱茵金属公司已经计划为意大利军队建造 1050 辆基于莱茵金属“山猫”的新型步兵战车，以及 132 辆基于莱茵金属公司正在研发的“黑豹”KF51 的坦克。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。