Italian defence giant warms up to Turkish BAYKAR drone producer amid facility visit

The CEO of the Italian defense-industrial holding Leonardo S.p.A., Roberto Cingolani, has paid a visit to the National Technology Center of Turkish drone manufacturer BAYKAR.

The meeting between the two defence giants at the Istanbul facility, named after the founder of the Turkish firm, Özdemir Bayraktar, was announced by BAYKAR on their official X account, Caliber.Az reports

İtalyan havacılık, savunma ve güvenlik firması Leonardo S.p.A’nın CEO’su Sayın Prof. Roberto Cingolani ve beraberindeki heyet Özdemir Bayraktar Milli Teknoloji Merkezimizi ziyaret ettiler.

Kendilerini ağırlamaktan dolayı memnuniyet duyduk. 🇹🇷🇮🇹

Il professor Roberto Cingolani,… pic.twitter.com/GnAG1MF3L0

— BAYKAR (@BaykarTech) January 23, 2025

The Turkish aerospace company has recently acquired the Italian Piaggio Aerospace in 2024, a firm which has been founded in 1884. Following the acquisition, Italy's minister of enterprises Adolfo Urso stated that "the sale of Piaggio Aerospace to Turkish Baykar allows the relaunch of a strategic company and allows us to outline a broader technological and industrial partnership between Italy and Türkiye, which will also have significant developments in other projects of great interest for our country.”

As Caliber.Az recalls, aerospace and defense giant Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) is the 13th-largest defense company in the world and the second-largest in Europe. Its subsidiaries operate in the fields of defense, energy, helicopter manufacturing, telecommunications, and transportation. The Italian manufacturer is part of the consortium producing the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets and provides over 60% of it's on-board avionics. 

By Nazrin Sadigova