Eurofighter Consortium Names Mezzanatto CEO

Eurofighter GmbH CEO Giancarlo Mezzanatto

Giancarlo Mezzanatto

Credit: Eurofighter GmbH

LONDON—Eurofighter GmbH, the joint venture that coordinates the multinational Eurofighter Typhoon program, has a new CEO. 

Giancarlo Mezzanatto, currently vice president for European military programs of Leonardo’s aircraft business, will take the helm in May. He succeeds Carlo Mancusi, who died in December, the company announced April 17. 

Since Mancusi’s death, the company has been run in the interim by Wolfgang Gammel, Eurofighter’s chief operating officer (COO) for programs. 

Mezzanatto is no stranger to Eurofighter. He was COO of programs between 2019 and 2021. 

Mezzanatto, who was selected by the shareholders of the Eurofighter GmbH consortium, “brings significant Eurofighter program experience and expertise, which will be of huge value during the next few years,” says Andrea Thompson, chair of the Eurofighter GmbH supervisory board. 

Mezzanatto arrives as consortium companies Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo are producing components for the latest tranche of aircraft ordered by partner nations Germany and Spain. He will also need to steer the consortium through the political processes around advancing the aircraft toward more upgrades and a potential midlife update. 

Tony Osborne

Based in London, Tony covers European defense programs. Prior to joining Aviation Week in November 2012, Tony was at Shephard Media Group where he was deputy editor for Rotorhub and Defence Helicopter magazines.