LEONARDO / FINMECCANICA
| Registered office | Italy - Rome |
|---|---|
| Other branches | Warsaw(PL), Edinburgh (UK), Yeovil (UK) |
| Industries | Arms Industry |
| Categories | surveillance, border fortification, major player, contractor |
| Sources | Unspecified |
| Website | https://www.leonardo.com/en/home |
About the company
Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) is Italy's largest company specialized on defense, security and aerospace. It belongs to the ten globally dominating defense contractors.
Contribution to the EU border regime
In 2009 their then subsidiary Selex Sistemi Integrati was commissioned by the EU and Italy to facilitate training and equipment at the value of 300 million euro to Libya. Finmeccanica was part of technical studies together with EADS/Airbus, Thales and ESG, conceptualizing the border surveillance system EUROSUR. Selex supplies surveillance technology to the large reconnaissance drones of the NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system that are stationed in Italy as well as numerous boats and helicopters to European coastguards. In addition to helicopters for military use, the Leonardo subsidiary AgustaWestland also produces helicopters designed for border protection tasks ( and e.g. used by the Croatian Interior Ministry to monitor the border). Finmeccanica and Selex benefited from many civil EU research projects on improved and integrated sensor technology, secure communication networks and unmanned systems over the years. In 2017, as part of the newly launched EU Defense Fund, the company was commissioned to implement the Ocean2020 project, which is responsible for monitoring a sea area, and probing the cooperation of six (war) ships from four countries with unmanned systems in the air, on and under water, coordinated by four national and one international command center and supported by four satellite systems.
Added: Jan. 11, 2024
Last update: Jan. 28, 2024, 12:03 p.m.