Italy to Deploy Turkish Bayraktar TB3 Drones Aboard Aircraft Carrier, Signalling Deeper Defence Shift

Italy’s Navy plans to procure and operate the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB3 unmanned aerial vehicle aboard its aircraft carrier Cavour, Vice Admiral Berutti Bergotto announced on March 25, 2026. The move marks a significant evolution in European naval warfare and highlights a growing, politically unacknowledged defence partnership between Italy and Turkey.

Writing in Substack, Riccardo Gasco and Francesco Salesio Schiavi report that the acquisition will proceed through LBA Systems, a fifty-fifty joint venture between Italian aerospace giant Leonardo and Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar established in June 2025. Under the arrangement, Baykar’s drone portfolio—including the TB2, TB3, Akinci, and Kizilelma—will be manufactured at three Italian facilities, with Leonardo contributing European certification, mission systems, and radar technology. When the Italian Navy receives the TB3, it will be procuring a platform partly built domestically through a venture in which Leonardo holds equal stake.

The TB3 was specifically engineered for short-deck carrier operations, featuring folding wings, reinforced landing gear, satellite communications, and up to 24 hours of endurance. It has already conducted flight operations from Turkey’s amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu. For Italy, the drone is expected to complement rather than replace the Cavour’s F-35B fighter wing, expanding surveillance, targeting, and persistence at lower operational cost.

Gasco and Schiavi argue that the implications extend well beyond a single procurement. Leonardo’s March 2026 Industrial Plan identifies LBA Systems as a core driver for aeronautics growth through 2030, projecting segment revenues to rise from €3.6 billion to €5.5 billion. Baykar is now embedded in the financial architecture of one of Europe’s largest defence contractors.

The partnership also encompasses manned-unmanned teaming. Leonardo announced it will demonstrate an M-346 controlling two Baykar-built unmanned combat aircraft by mid-2026—a step toward collaborative combat aviation that could eventually integrate with existing European fighter fleets.

The two writers note that while Europe’s 2026 defence debate emphasizes strategic autonomy and rearmament, it largely avoids confronting the reality of deepening industrial integration with Turkey. With no EU framework governing technology transfer, certification, or operational dependence, the political architecture lags far behind the military-industrial relationship already taking shape.