This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Aug 24, 2026. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
An Italian Air Force M-346 on the static display at the Farnborough Airshow.
FARNBOROUGH, England—Leonardo will seek British industrial links to support a planned M‑346 bid for an emerging British jet trainer competition, newly appointed CEO Lorenzo Mariani told Aviation Week.
“We need a British partner,” he said in the interview at the Farnborough Airshow.
Leonardo already has strong industrial ties in the UK with its helicopter and defense electronics operations, but it is looking to bring on more local industrial firepower given London’s apparent interest in using any deal for job creation.
“The only way to do it is not to behave as a pure exporter,” Mariani said, pointing to the UK government’s recently released Defense Investment Plan that underscored the desire to use modernization programs to support the country’s workforce.
How the partnership would be structured and whether Leonardo would assemble the M‑346 on UK soil has not yet been settled. Mariani noted that there are many elements to the jet trainer program, including synthetic training aspects, that could offer partnership opportunities.
The British government has not yet spelled out the exact requirements or acquisition strategy for the endeavor to replace the BAE Systems Hawk T2 used for advanced training and the Hawk T1 used by the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows aerobatic team.
Leonardo is poised to face stiff competition with Boeing, BAE Systems and Saab teamed to offer the T-7. The field also will likely include Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries with the T-50, SNC with the Freedom and Turkish Aerospace with its Hurjet.
Mariani also made the case that on the British-Italian-Japanese Global Combat Air Program, where Leonardo is teamed with BAE Systems and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement, each of the supporting countries “in principle” should have an aircraft final assembly line. He noted, though, that the issue remains under discussion and needs to also be linked to the number of countries which join and how many aircraft are being bought.
“The lesson learned from Eurofighter is that to have a final assembly line, you really need a fair number of aircraft,” he said.
Mariani, now in the job just over two months, also detailed some of his priorities as he seeks to build on the momentum the company has from strong demand and an improved industrial setup. One of them is further ramping up production to deliver the backlog across the range of products—from radars, to helicopters, to aircraft. The second is ensuring Leonardo grabs its share of the new demand created by the testing geopolitical situation. A third is to ensure the company is nimble enough to embrace new technology trends and enter emerging markets such as for drones, cyber and how those relate to artificial intelligence. Ensuring the company is well position when it comes to autonomy, not just in the area of drones but also in production and other areas, will also be key, he noted.
Leonardo also needs a stronger presence in the market for integrated air and missile defense, he said, after earlier in the air show throwing his support behind the company’s Michelangelo Dome project launched by his predecessor.
Related Content
