Turkish-Italian venture adds new force to Europe’s drone market

ROME — Turkish UAV champion Baykar announced a deal with Italy’s Leonardo on Thursday to grab a slice of Europe’s $100 billion ($108 billion) drone market and possibly offer a Turkish drone as candidate to be the GCAP fighter’s ‘Loyal Wingman.’

Using Baykar platforms and Leonardo electronics and radars, a planned 50-50 joint venture envisages drone assembly in Turkey but also at Leonardo facilities in Italy, which would ease certification for selling in a European market worth $100 billion in the next ten years, the firms said.

“Europe has a gap in unmanned technologies and in a complicated time like this, drones are fundamental to guarantee security,” said Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani, adding the joint venture was the result of “five very intense months of work.”

The first prototype produced by the Italy-based firm will be a version of Baykar’s Akinci drone which will be ready in a year, said Cingolani.

“It has 1.5 tonnes of payload, which means it can carry any munition a fighter can,” said Baykar chairman Selçuk Bayraktar at a press conference held with Cingolani in Rome to announced the deal.

Leonardo, which produces the Gabbiano electronically scanned radar for drones, has already placed its systems on Baykar drones, but Bayraktar said the JV would represent a “deep dive” into further collaboration.

He said his firm’s Kizilelma unmanned fighter could yet be a candidate to fulfill the ‘Loyal Wingman’ role for the Anglo-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Programme fighter being built by Leonardo, BAE and Japan’s JAIEC.

“That was an idea that came up in discussions,” said Bayraktar.

The sixth-generation fighter is expected to control drones flying alongside it.

Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani said the team-up with Baykar was an “opportunity” to study the potential of making a Turkish drone the GCAP fighter’s backup.

So far, the GCAP partners have yet to focus on drone development.

But Cingolani warned it was early days to be pitching a Baykar platform.

“You need to know the requirement. We still have no idea if the drones will be under the wings or taking off from a carrier or an airport. It’s a bit too early,” he said.

Should the joint venture expand assembly of Baykar drones to Italy it could use Leonardo facilities as well as Piaggio Aerospace, the Italian aerospace company that Baykar purchased in December .

“One option is Piaggio,” said Bayraktar, adding that his firm would also keep up the civil, manned aircraft work at Piaggio.

Thursday’s press conference marked the signing of a memorandum of understanding ahead of the completion of the JV in about six months, officials said.

“If you start discussions with lawyers you don’t get anywhere, but if you start discussions with people who really want to do things together and they have a technical vision, then things happen and happen very quickly,” said Cingolani.

Cingolani said Baykar’s facility in Turkey was “the most striking high tech industry I have seen in my life, not only for its impressive drone capabiliity but also the campus with kindergarten, sports centre and flats for workers.”

Providing sensors and software would be key to Leonardo’s input, as well as getting drones certified, he said.

He cited three examples of where synergies would pay off: Creating swarms of UAVs that can fly by navigating thanks to ground features – without GPS; allowing drones like the Baykar Akinci to lead swarms of smaller drones; and building drones that can fly alongside sixth-generation fighters.

Bayraktar said of Leonardo,”They have an immense AI backbone.”

Cingolani claimed the tie-up would not clash with the Eurodrone program to build a European medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV in which Leonardo is a partner.

But he cautioned: “Eurodrone will not be able to guarantee the drone competitiveness of the continent.” Europe, he added, “has lost quite a lot of time.”

He said he “hoped” the Italian military would be a customer, while Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar told Defense News that possible Italian purchases included the Baykar Akinci and TB3 drones as well as loitering munitions and deep strike drones.

Asked whether European export restrictions might curtail the number of countries that jointly produced drones could be sold to, Cingolani said the company would adhere to any such rules.

“If I build a 25 million euro aircraft and cannot export it because of a 10,000 euro component from a country in the supply chain that stops me selling, we follow the rules, even if it is expensive. And that will apply to the new joint venture,” he said.

Italy has been a loyal purchaser of U.S. Predator and Reaper drones, so a purchase of Baykar platforms would mark a change in direction for Rome and reflect a possible, pending shift in Europe away from relying on U.S. armaments as President Trump aligns with Russia and imposes tariffs on the European Union.

If buying U.S. arms has been part of a deal to help maintain U.S. security guarantees in the past, there is less incentive to do so if the security guarantee is no longer a given.

Additionally, sovereignty over defense systems may become a priority in Europe amid concerns the U.S. could prevent American-made kit being used in operations opposed by Trump.

At the Rome press conference, Cingolani said Trump’s verbal “attacks” on Europe were fueling “an unprecedented sense of urgency” to beef up defense spending in Europe.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo in Milan contributed to this report.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——土耳其无人机巨头 Baykar 周四宣布与意大利 Leonardo 公司达成协议，以抢占欧洲 1000 亿美元（1080 亿美元）无人机市场的一席之地，并可能提供土耳其无人机作为 GCAP 战斗机的“忠诚僚机”候选机型。

两家公司表示，计划成立一家 50-50 的合资企业，利用 Baykar 的平台和 Leonardo 的电子设备和雷达，在土耳其以及 Leonardo 位于意大利的工厂组装无人机，这将简化未来十年在价值 1000 亿美元的欧洲市场销售的认证流程。

“欧洲在无人技术领域存在差距，在当前这样复杂的时期，无人机对于保障安全至关重要，”莱昂纳多首席执行官罗伯托·辛戈拉尼表示，并补充说，该合资企业是“五个月紧张工作”的成果。

Cingolani表示，这家总部位于意大利的公司生产的第一个原型机将是Baykar的Akinci无人机的改进版，预计一年后即可投入使用。

“它的有效载荷为 1.5 吨，这意味着它可以携带战斗机可以携带的任何弹药，”Baykar 董事长 Selçuk Bayraktar 在罗马与 Cingolani 共同举行的新闻发布会上宣布该交易时表示。

为无人机生产 Gabbiano 电子扫描雷达的 Leonardo 公司已经将其系统安装在 Baykar 无人机上，但 Bayraktar 表示，合资企业将代表着进一步合作的“深入探索”。

他表示，他所在公司的 Kizilelma 无人战斗机仍有可能成为由莱昂纳多、BAE 和日本 JAIEC 联合研制的英意日全球作战航空计划战斗机的“忠诚僚机”角色候选机型。

“那是在讨论中提出的一个想法，”巴伊拉克塔尔说。

预计第六代战斗机将能够控制与其并肩飞行的无人机。

莱昂纳多公司首席执行官罗伯托·辛戈拉尼表示，与拜卡公司的合作是一个“机会”，可以研究将土耳其无人机打造为 GCAP 战斗机的备用机的潜力。

到目前为止，GCAP 的合作伙伴尚未将重点放在无人机开发上。

但辛戈拉尼警告说，现在就推销 Baykar 平台还为时尚早。

“你需要了解具体需求。我们目前还不清楚无人机是会挂在机翼下，还是从航母或机场起飞。现在讨论这些还为时尚早。”他说道。

如果合资企业将 Baykar 无人机的组装业务扩展到意大利，它可以使用 Leonardo 的设施以及 Baykar 于 12 月收购的意大利航空航天公司 Piaggio Aerospace 的设施。

“比亚乔公司是一个选择，”Bayraktar说道，并补充说他的公司也将继续在比亚乔公司从事民用载人飞机的工作。

官员们表示，周四的新闻发布会标志着双方签署了一份谅解备忘录，合资企业预计将在大约六个月后完成。

“如果你和律师开始讨论，你不会有任何进展；但如果你和真正想一起做事情并且有技术愿景的人开始讨论，那么事情就会发生，而且进展得非常快，”辛戈拉尼说。

Cingolani 表示，Baykar 在土耳其的工厂是“我一生中见过的最引人注目的高科技产业，不仅因为其令人印象深刻的无人机能力，还因为其园区内设有幼儿园、体育中心和员工公寓”。

他表示，提供传感器和软件是莱昂纳多公司投入的关键，获得无人机认证也是如此。

他列举了协同效应能够带来回报的三个例子：创建能够利用地面特征导航飞行的无人机群（无需 GPS）；让像 Baykar Akinci 这样的无人机带领小型无人机群；以及制造能够与第六代战斗机并肩飞行的无人机。

巴伊拉克塔尔评价莱昂纳多公司时说：“他们拥有强大的人工智能基础架构。”

Cingolani 声称，此次合作不会与 Eurodrone 计划发生冲突，该计划旨在建造欧洲中空长航时无人机，而 Leonardo 是该计划的合作伙伴。

但他警告说：“欧洲无人机展无法保证欧洲大陆的无人机竞争力。” 他补充说，欧洲“已经浪费了太多时间”。

他表示“希望”意大利军方能成为客户，而 Baykar 首席执行官 Haluk Bayraktar 告诉《防务新闻》，意大利可能采购的产品包括 Baykar Akinci 和 TB3 无人机，以及巡飞弹和纵深打击无人机。

当被问及欧洲的出口限制是否会减少联合生产的无人机可以销售的国家数量时，辛戈拉尼表示，该公司将遵守任何此类规定。

“如果我制造了一架价值2500万欧元的飞机，却因为供应链中某个国家的一个价值1万欧元的零部件而无法出口，即使代价高昂，我们也会遵守规则。这条规则同样适用于新的合资企业，”他说道。

意大利一直是美国“捕食者”和“死神”无人机的忠实买家，因此购买拜卡平台将标志着罗马方向的改变，并反映出随着特朗普总统与俄罗斯结盟并对欧盟征收关税，欧洲可能正在摆脱对美国武器的依赖。

如果购买美国武器过去是为了帮助维持美国的安全保障，那么如果安全保障不再是理所当然的，购买美国武器的动力就会降低。

此外，由于担心美国可能会阻止在特朗普反对的行动中使用美国制造的装备，对国防系统的主权可能成为欧洲的优先事项。

在罗马举行的新闻发布会上，辛戈拉尼表示，特朗普对欧洲的言语“攻击”正在加剧欧洲加强国防开支的“前所未有的紧迫感”。

米兰的伊丽莎白·戈塞林-马洛对本报道亦有贡献。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。