Italy’s Leonardo rides high on soaring global defense spending

ROME — Leonardo will see annual orders of €32 billion ($37 billion) a year by 2030, up from €23.8 billion last year, the firm said on Thursday as it announced a bullish new industrial plan reflecting soaring global defense spending.

The Italian state-controlled firm will see revenue leap 50% by 2030, reaching €30 billion from last year’s €19.5 billion, it predicted.

During a presentation in Rome, CEO Roberto Cingolani said the company would up its focus on cyber security and digitalization as well its new Michelangelo Dome, a multi-layered air defense system which should yield €21 billion in new business in the next ten years.

Cingolani has previously said Leonardo is working hard to manage its growth as demand grows.

Since 2023 Leonardo has increased its workforce from 51,400 staff to 62,700 last year and expects to have 75,500 on the payroll by 2030, a growth of around 24,000 in seven years.

On Thursday the company also published forecasts for 2026, predicting new orders will reach €25 billion and revenues will hit €21 billion.

Final results for last year revealed Leonardo’s biggest sectors was Defense Electronics, accounting for about half of revenue, with income from new electronically scanned radars for British Eurofighters, new Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS) for Italian Eurofighters and combat management systems for naval vessels for Indonesia.

New electronics work also included a healthy input from the firm’s U.S. subsidiary Leonardo DRS, featuring electric propulsion components for the next-generation Columbia-class submarine for the US Navy, electro-optical sensors for M2 Bradley vehicles and work on the Naval AEGIS system.