Following Baykar’s acquisition of the Italian aerospace firm Piaggio Aerospace, cooperation with Leonardo might be the next step in Turkish-Italian ties.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency News, Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani stated that Leonardo and Baykar are discussing possibly integrating Leonardo’s systems into Baykar’s UAVs. Leonardo has a portfolio of UAV-compatible radars, including Osprey 30 multi-function radar (Tactical to large-sized ones) and Seaspray 7500E long-range searching radar (MQ-9 SeaGuardian).
Considering Leonardo is among the preferred payload providers for NATO countries, including the U.S., cooperation with Leonardo can be another leverage for Baykar in the Western market.
Roberto Cingolani also underlined that talks on this subject have been ongoing even before Baykar’s acquisition of Piaggio Aerospace. Piaggio is known for its Avanti light airliner, PP1H UCAV based on the Avanti platform, and parts manufacturing for various gas turbine engines.
