The go to of Italy’s political govt and prime navy brass comes as Baykar and Leonardo advance their three way partnership LBA Methods.
A big Italian delegation, which included the Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Protection, armed forces chiefs and officers from Leonardo, visited Baykar’s Bayraktar Nationwide Expertise Heart on Oct. 6, 2025. The go to comes after Baykar acquired Italy’s Piaggio Aerospace and teamed up with Leonardo on a 50:50 partnership three way partnership, referred to as LBA Methods
Photos confirmed the massive delegation standing earlier than an Akinci UCAV, and the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Protection Matteo Perego di Cremnago sitting at a multi-screen console exhibiting EO footage of a Kizilelma in flight. With the Akinci all the time used to file the jet UCAV throughout assessments, it may be assumed that each have been used within the demonstrations.
Different studies claimed the TB3 additionally flew, however this might not be confirmed, since Baykar didn’t launch footage of the flight demo.
The partnership between the Italian and Turkish corporations envisages combining Baykar’s experience within the design, improvement and manufacturing of unmanned aerial programs and Leonardo’s lead in mission programs, payload design, sensor fusion, C4I programs and aerospace certification in Europe. Merchandise advanced within the partnership will goal each European and world markets, with plans to additionally have a look at area applied sciences sooner or later.
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanlığı Savunma Sanayii Başkanı Haluk Görgün ile İtalya Savunma Bakan Yardımcısı Matteo Perego di Cremnago, İtalya Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanı Korgeneral Antonio Conserva, İtalya Kara Kuvvetleri Komutanı Korgeneral Carmine Masiello, İtalya Deniz… pic.twitter.com/jbU9EgAUyH
— BAYKAR (@BaykarTech) October 6, 2025
Significance
The go to is important, particularly since each Leonardo’s CEO and normal supervisor Roberto Cingolani and Baykar’s chief Haluk Bayraktar implied of their Mar. 6, 2025, press convention the Kizilelma being checked out as a possible collaborative loyal wingman for sixth era jets. Whereas Cingolani had talked about sixth era jets as among the many challenges confronted by the aerospace business, Bayraktar later added {that a} “massive a part of the dialogue” was about supplying loyal wingman drones for the International Fight Plane Programme (GCAP).
The huge Italian delegation included the seniormost in its political, navy and protection business management. This included Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Protection Matteo Perego di Cremnago; Italian Air Power commander Lt. Gen. Antonio Conserva; Italian Military chief Lt. Gen. Carmine Masiello; the deputy commander of the Italian Navy (Marina Militare) Vice-Admiral Giuseppe Berutti Bergotto; Simone Ungaro and Carlo Gualdaroni from Leonardo.
Each Ungaro and Gualdaroni beforehand visited the power on Apr. 3, practically a month after Leonardo and Baykar partnered up on Mar. 6, forward of saying the LBA Methods JV on Jun. 15. From Turkey’s aspect, secretary of the Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Görgün was in attendance.
Through the latest demonstration, the Italian delegation was within the management middle, watching the feeds from the UAVs in flight. The presence of Italy’s political govt and prime navy brass additionally speaks to the diplomatic heft behind Baykar’s and Leonardo’s partnership.
İtalyan savunma bakanı ve kuvvet komutanları, dünyanın ilk ve tek insansız avcı uçağı KIZILELMA’nın uçuşunu izledi.
BAYKAR’a ziyarete gelen heyet, AKINCI ve TB3’ü de inceledi. pic.twitter.com/aBGqzmqMYz
— Avionot (@avionot) October 6, 2025
This additionally comes amid a shifting geopolitical panorama within the face of a retreating U.S., an ongoing struggle in Europe, flashpoints within the Center East, tensions within the Indo-Pacific, the arrival of sixth era aerospace age and Italy’s overlapping function in all these triggering new protection industrial ties.
Flight demonstrations
An image shared by ‘Avionot’ confirmed the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Protection Matteo Perego di Cremnago working the controls of what might be the Akinci, provided that one of many screens confirmed it was recording the Kizilelma in flight. The opposite screens exhibiting the flight knowledge and telemetry readings have been blurred out.
The corporate and its chief expertise officer Selçuk Bayraktar shared one other video of all of the three UAVs conducting demonstrations. It confirmed the Kizilelma being recorded in flight, and the TB3 dropping guided munitions on a marked floor goal.
It’s nevertheless not clear if these flight demonstrations pertain to the Italian delegation’s go to, or a separate occasion. It should be famous that the Akinci is often the usual chase plane for the Kizilelma.
The demonstrations noticed the Kizilelma and the Akinci additionally conducting aborted landings and go arounds. The TB3, which is described as a naval model of the vastly common TB2 Bayraktar, carried a MAM-L/MAM-T air-to-ground guided munition on every of the wings.
Future
The ItAF already operates seven MQ-9A Reaper UAVs, that are primarily based at Amendola and Sigonella air bases. In August 2024, Rome was granted a $738 million buy for a further six MQ-9 Block 5 RPAs (Remotely Piloted Plane) as part of an FMS (International Army Sale) program.
With this go to to Baykar, the ItAF officers and Leonardo engineers have been uncovered to the Akinci, Kizilelma and probably the TB3. Whether or not this really interprets into buying Turkish unmanned plane stays to be seen.
Such a go to would additionally assist each side determine what aerospace and drone applied sciences to work on, relying on the Aeronautica Militare’s wants and Baykar’s and Leonardo’s capabilities. The presence of all three stakeholders – Italy’s political, navy and industrial management – would additional synergize the efforts, and LBA Methods saying a concrete aerospace mission is just not distant.
In an interview to ‘gdh defence’ on the sidelines of TEKNOFEST in Istanbul on Sep. 19, 2025, Simone Ungaro mentioned concerning the JV with Baykar: “We (Leonardo) are prime in expertise when it comes to payload and so they (Baykar) convey the very best expertise in drones. If we mix the 2 […] we’re going to make a participant primary.”
A potential space of cooperation might be the Akinci HALE (Excessive-Altitude Lengthy-Endurance) reconnaissance-strike drone, provided that the multinational Eurodrone program is but to provide a flying instance. The TB3 may be of curiosity, given the way it has been examined for dozens of take-offs and landings off the Turkish Navy’s TCG Anadolu, and would subsequently not be troublesome to be built-in with the Marina Militare’s ITS Cavour plane service and Trieste LHD.
The Kizilelma, in the meantime, may very nicely function the collaborative unmanned fighter for the GCAP mission.
