Leonardo, a global aerospace and defense group, reported 2025 revenues of €19.5 billion and an order backlog of €46.6 billion. The company employs over 62,000 people globally, including more than 10,000 in the UK, where its annual research and development investment exceeds £500 million.
Strategy Director Simon Harwood oversees the company's approach to innovation, which focuses on alliances and partnerships with SMEs rather than traditional M&A. Leonardo provides startups with long-term funding, access to specialized testing facilities, and guidance on government demand signals for technologies like swarm drones.
The company has partnered with Ploughshare, the UK Ministry of Defence's commercialization arm, to identify and license internal intellectual property for civilian applications. Ploughshare has previously brought over 140 technologies to market and established 16 spin-out companies.
Harwood advocates for 'prototype warfare,' a strategy involving spiral development and field testing to integrate emerging technologies into military capabilities. This approach groups innovations into six areas, including dynamic targeting, autonomous systems, and long-range precision strikes.
Addressing the challenge of scaling production, Leonardo faces a paradox in maintaining manufacturing capacity between conflicts. While high-end systems are costly to stockpile, the company must retain the ability to rapidly increase production volumes to meet potential future surges in demand.
