THEeonardo puts a foot directly into the Ukrainian defense industry. The Italian aerospace and security group has established Leonardo Ukraine, a new company based in Kiev, 100% controlled through Leonardo International.
The main activity of the company registered in the Ukrainian business register since May 20, 2026 is “research and experimental development in the scientific and engineering fields”. However, the scope of action is much broader and includes communication and navigation systems, software, IT services, electronic and optical equipment and special machinery.
Leonardo looks at Kiev’s drones
The choice comes as Leonardo looks with growing interest at the technologies developed by Ukraine during more than four years of war. In July, during the Farnborough international airshow, CEO Lorenzo Mariani had clearly indicated the direction: according to the manager, the experience acquired by the Ukrainian industry in the drone sector is “exceptional” and a collaboration between Leonardo, Turkey’s Baykar and Kiev companies would have ample room for development.
Ukraine has in fact become one of the largest laboratories in the world for unmanned military technologies. This is demonstrated by the numbers of Brave1, the state cluster created to accelerate innovation in the defense sector: today it brings together around 2,500 companies and over 5,000 products. It includes more than 500 drone manufacturers, over 300 companies active in electronic warfare and signals intelligence and more than 200 producers of technologies based on artificial intelligence.
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One of the most interesting tools is the Brave1 Dataroom, developed together with Palantir and Ukrainian military institutions. The platform allows companies to train AI systems using data from the battlefield, including visual and thermal footage. Over one hundred companies are already working on the platform, training more than 80 models intended, among other things, for the recognition and interception of aerial threats.
It is precisely this ability to quickly transform frontline experience into new products that interests large Western groups. Leonardo had already announced its intention to carry out tests of the Michelangelo Domethe new integrated, multi-domain system designed to coordinate sensors, platforms and defense systems against threats ranging from missiles to drone swarms. In the industrial plan, the group attributes approximately 21 billion euros of potential commercial opportunities to the project over the next ten years.
The new Kiev company now allows Leonardo to have a direct industrial presence in the country and, above all, to get closer to a technological ecosystem that the war has caused to grow at a speed that is difficult to replicate in traditional European defense programs.