Baykar vows to produce military drones at Piaggio sites in Italy

ROME — Turkish drone firm Baykar has said it will produce its Akinci and TB2 platforms in Italy at Piaggio Aerospace, for which acquisition proceedings began in December.

The drone maker revealed the plan in a statement announcing the closing of the Piaggio deal, which gives the Turkish firm a foothold in Europe after supplying countries across the world with its drones.

“The production of the AKINCI and TB2 UAVs – two of the most advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles currently in service – has been designated for Piaggio Aerospace’s facilities to support future market demand,” said the statement.

The closing of the deal on June 30 was signed off at Italy’s Ministry of Enterprise, which has overseen Piaggio since it was in placed in receivership prior to the purchase.

Baykar said it wanted to relaunch Piaggio’s P.180 Avanti EVO aircraft which it said now featured upgrades developed with Italy’s ministry of defense.

The plan to also build Baykar drones at Piaggio was alluded to by Baykar management in March but confirmed in the newstatement for the first time.

“Under the terms of the agreement, Baykar has pledged to maintain current employment levels at the Villanova d’Albenga and Genoa sites, with plans to expand the workforce in line with the growth of production activities,” Baykar said.

Selçuk Bayraktar, Chairman and CTO of Baykar, said the purchase would “bring new life to Italian aviation design and manufacturing.”

Piaggio was taken over in 2014 by Mubadala Development Company, an Abu Dhabi-based strategic investment and development company which was due to build an unmanned version of the P.180 for the UAE.

The UAE however wanted Italy to be the first customer for the so-called Hammerhead. When Italian officials balked at the purchase, Mubadala dumped the firm.

That means Baykar now has access to work carried out on the Hammerhead.

Italian enterprise minister Adolfo Urso said the deal ensured “a great future for a company that has had a glorious past, an icon of Made in Italy.”

Baykar’s purchase of Piaggio couples with its drone cooperation deal with Italy’s Leonardo, which was announced in March and confirmed at the Paris Air Show.

Leonardo is planning to install its radars and electronics on Baykar drones as part of the deal and has said it will be working on the project at its sites in Italy at Ronchi dei Legionari, Turin, Rome and Grottaglie in southern Italy.