PARIS — The search aperture for drone technology in the tri-national GCAP program remains wide open for Italy, with considerations including a potential conversion of M-345 or M-346 Leonardo trainer jets for the role, according to company CEO Roberto Cingolani.
Those homemade options are in addition to the drone lineup from new joint venture partner Baykar, whose jet-powered Kizilelma aircraft could be closest to what engineers are seeking under the British-Italian-Japanese program, Cingolani told reporters at the Paris Air Show.
“To be honest, we have the 345 and the 346,” he said, referring to the company’s trainer and light fighter plane variants. “We could modify those to be unmanned.”
He added: “But there are also big drones produced by Baykar that could be modified. In that case you have the unmanned, but you have to transform it into a real airplane. We start from a real airplane, transformed into an unmanned one.”
Cingolani’s comments appeared to close to the door on the idea that the Baykar team-up would by default lead to a GCAP drone from the Turkish company’s stable.
As with sixth-generation warplane designs of other nations, the GCAP architecture envisions a central aircraft with human pilots alongside which a plethora of drones boasting sensors and weapons would fly.
The program’s focus for the next five years lies primarily on the main aircraft, but the partner nations are free to explore unmanned companions on their own in the meantime, Cingolani explained.
The latest designs for the main aircraft entail “gigantic” dimensions, at 40 meters, he said with a chuckle.
Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.
