The visit of Italy’s political executive and top military brass comes as Baykar and Leonardo advance their joint venture LBA Systems.
A large Italian delegation, which included the Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Defense, armed forces chiefs and officials from Leonardo, visited Baykar’s Bayraktar National Technology Center on Oct. 6, 2025. The visit comes after Baykar acquired Italy’s Piaggio Aerospace and teamed up with Leonardo on a 50:50 partnership joint venture, called LBA Systems
Images showed the large delegation standing before an Akinci UCAV, and the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago sitting at a multi-screen console showing EO footage of a Kizilelma in flight. With the Akinci always used to record the jet UCAV during tests, it can be assumed that both were used in the demonstrations.
Other reports claimed the TB3 also flew, but this could not be confirmed, since Baykar did not release footage of the flight demo.
The partnership between the Italian and Turkish companies envisages combining Baykar’s expertise in the design, development and production of unmanned aerial systems and Leonardo’s lead in mission systems, payload design, sensor fusion, C4I systems and aerospace certification in Europe. Products evolved in the partnership will target both European and global markets, with plans to also look at space technologies in the future.
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 visit is significant, especially since both Leonardo’s CEO and general manager Roberto Cingolani and Baykar’s chief Haluk Bayraktar implied in their Mar. 6, 2025, press conference the Kizilelma being looked at as a potential collaborative loyal wingman for sixth generation jets. While Cingolani had mentioned sixth generation jets as among the challenges faced by the aerospace industry, Bayraktar later added that a “big part of the discussion” was about supplying loyal wingman drones for the Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP).
The massive Italian delegation included the seniormost in its political, military and defense industry leadership. This included Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago; Italian Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Antonio Conserva; Italian Army 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.
Both Ungaro and Gualdaroni previously visited the facility on Apr. 3, nearly a month after Leonardo and Baykar partnered up on Mar. 6, ahead of announcing the LBA Systems JV on Jun. 15. From Turkey’s side, secretary of the Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Görgün was in attendance.
During the recent demonstration, the Italian delegation was in the control center, watching the feeds from the UAVs in flight. The presence of Italy’s political executive and top military brass also 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 also comes amid a shifting geopolitical landscape in the face of a retreating U.S., an ongoing war in Europe, flashpoints in the Middle East, tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the advent of sixth generation aerospace age and Italy’s overlapping role in all these triggering new defense commercial ties.
Flight demonstrations
A picture shared by ‘Avionot’ showed the Italian Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Defense Matteo Perego di Cremnago operating the controls of what could be the Akinci, given that one of the screens showed it was recording the Kizilelma in flight. The other screens showing the flight data and telemetry readings were blurred out.
The company and its chief technology officer Selçuk Bayraktar shared another video of all the three UAVs conducting demonstrations. It showed the Kizilelma being recorded in flight, and the TB3 dropping guided munitions on a marked ground target.
It is however not clear if these flight demonstrations pertain to the Italian delegation’s visit, or a separate event. It must be noted that the Akinci is usually the standard chase aircraft for the Kizilelma.
The demonstrations saw the Kizilelma and the Akinci also conducting aborted landings and go arounds. The TB3, which is described as a naval version of the hugely popular TB2 Bayraktar, carried a MAM-L/MAM-T air-to-ground guided munition on each of the wings.
Future
The ItAF already operates seven MQ-9A Reaper UAVs, which are based at Amendola and Sigonella air bases. In August 2024, Rome was granted a $738 million purchase for an additional six MQ-9 Block 5 RPAs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft) as a part of an FMS (Foreign Military Sale) program.
With this visit to Baykar, the ItAF officers and Leonardo engineers have been exposed to the Akinci, Kizilelma and possibly the TB3. Whether this actually translates into acquiring Turkish unmanned aircraft remains to be seen.
Such a visit would also help both sides identify what aerospace and drone technologies to work on, depending on the Aeronautica Militare’s needs and Baykar’s and Leonardo’s capabilities. The presence of all three stakeholders – Italy’s political, military and industrial leadership – would further synergize the efforts, and LBA Systems announcing a concrete aerospace project is not far away.
In an interview to ‘gdh defence’ on the sidelines of TEKNOFEST in Istanbul on Sep. 19, 2025, Simone Ungaro said about the JV with Baykar: “We (Leonardo) are top in technology in terms of payload and they (Baykar) bring the best technology in drones. If we combine the two […] we are going to make a player number one.”
A possible area of cooperation could be the Akinci HALE (High-Altitude Long-Endurance) reconnaissance-strike drone, given that the multinational Eurodrone program is yet to produce a flying example. The TB3 could also be of interest, given how it has been tested for dozens of take-offs and landings off the Turkish Navy’s TCG Anadolu, and would therefore not be difficult to be integrated with the Marina Militare’s ITS Cavour aircraft carrier and Trieste LHD.
The Kizilelma, meanwhile, could very well serve as the collaborative unmanned fighter for the GCAP project.
