Leonardo and Baykar have declared their LBA Systems joint venture fully operational, announcing at the Farnborough International Airshow that the necessary regulatory authorizations are in place and that the new company’s Lead has been appointed.
The equally owned venture, with its legal and operational headquarters in Italy, completes an arrangement the two firms set in motion with a memorandum of understanding in March 2025.
The company is built to design, develop, manufacture and support uncrewed aerial systems, pairing Leonardo’s electronics, payload and effector integration with Baykar’s platform designs and manufacturing.
Both partners describe the result as a new player in uncrewed technologies, a segment they expect to take an increasingly central place in defence.
The venture lists manned-unmanned teaming and swarming among its aims, alongside the qualification and certification work that lets Baykar’s field-proven designs meet European approval standards.
That regulatory and integration role is the main contribution Leonardo brings to platforms Baykar has already built and exported.
The venture’s range already spans six systems – from the 80-kilogram KALKAN built for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, through two variants of the Bayraktar TB2 medium-altitude long-endurance drone and the carrier-capable Astore Levante, to the Bayraktar AKINCI high-altitude long-endurance aircraft and the Bayraktar KIZILELMA uncrewed combat jet.
The line brings Baykar’s established platforms together with Leonardo’s sensors and mission systems under a single company.
The KIZILELMA recently demonstrated crewed-uncrewed teaming with Leonardo’s M-346F light fighter, tying the venture’s uncrewed line to the trainer and light fighter Leonardo is now exporting.
The pairing points to how the joint venture’s combat drone and Leonardo’s crewed aircraft might operate together in future missions.
The venture has begun building its first Astore Levante air vehicles for the Italian Air Force, the first tangible product to emerge from the tie-up.¹
The platform is derived from Baykar’s TB3 medium-altitude, long-endurance airframe, onto which Leonardo integrates a package of its own sensors and data links, and it was among the systems displayed at the Farnborough show.¹
Leonardo chief executive Lorenzo Mariani said the first two or three aircraft are already under way.¹
Mariani, in his first Farnborough appearance as chief executive, said the partnership with Baykar could serve as a template for drone cooperation with Ukrainian companies as European militaries look to expand their uncrewed fleets.²
The venture is part of a wider Baykar move into Europe, coming after the Turkish firm’s acquisition of Italy’s Piaggio Aerospace earlier in the year.³
It gives Baykar an EU-based partner able to handle approval and certification for continental customers.³
For Leonardo, the venture adds a home-anchored uncrewed line to a crewed portfolio that runs from the Eurofighter Typhoon to the Global Combat Air Programme, placing two of the larger names in crewed and uncrewed combat aviation inside one company.
The group frames the uncrewed work as part of an integrated operational offering that spans crewed and uncrewed platforms across the air, land, sea, space and cyber domains.
With regulatory clearances secured and the first Astore Levante aircraft in production, LBA Systems moves from a signed agreement into a working manufacturer, giving Baykar’s uncrewed range a foothold in the European market.¹
Notes
- “Leonardo Building First Astore Levante UAVs for Italian Air Force,” FlightGlobal, July 21, 2026.
- “Leonardo’s New Boss Backs Michelangelo Dome, LEO Constellation,” Aviation Week, July 21, 2026.
- “New Opportunities Beckon Following Türkiye’s Hurjet Sale to Spain,” Türkiye Today, November 6, 2025.
