Rome: Turkish UAV champion Baykar announced a deal with Italy’s Leonardo 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 announce 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.
