The boss of Italy’s defence champion fell foul of politics — and the army
Investors loved Roberto Cingolani’s high-tech strategy for Leonardo. The military establishment was less convinced.
Roberto Cingolani’s removal last month as head of Italy’s state-controlled defence group Leonardo dismayed investors after his push into next generation military technology helped drive a sharp rise in the company’s share price.
But his strategy unsettled the country’s defence establishment, according to people familiar with the company, while projects such as the “Michelangelo Dome” air defence shield prompted concerns among US and European officials.
Cingolani insisted his focus on advanced systems through alliances with the likes of Turkey’s Baykar and Germany’s Rheinmetall made sense, as it would allow the company to secure a larger role in Europe’s rapidly evolving defence architecture.
“Our financial results show that the ‘bullets and bytes’ vision was the right one,” he told reporters on his final day in the office last week. “I would be surprised if the new management changed course.”
Critics, however, say the physicist and former energy minister was too focused on the outer frontiers of technological possibility and failed to pay enough attention to the urgent need to expand capacity in its existing capabilities.
“Leonardo has to seriously increase production of drones, ammunition and platforms — whether for land or air,” said Alessandro Marrone, head of the defence and security programme at Rome’s Institute for International Affairs.
While the company was publicly listed, Marrone added, “at the same time it’s a strategic asset for the Italian state. The CEO has to balance this dual nature”.
Leonardo’s partnership with Baykar on unmanned aerial vehicles drew criticism for binding it to a politically sensitive partner closely linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as doubts over whether Baykar could deliver drones fast enough to meet Italy’s urgent needs.
The Rheinmetall venture in land vehicles fed concerns that Italy was giving up too much industrial autonomy in a strategic business.
The pivot towards Rheinmetall came after negotiations with Franco-German tank maker KNDS broke down in 2024, with Leonardo walking away from the Leopard 2, the tank that comes closest to a European standard.
But it was Cingolani’s November presentation of a proposed AI-powered air defence system — the Michelangelo Dome — that generated the most friction. Although he presented it as a capability that could operate alongside countries’ existing architecture, officials in Europe questioned Leonardo’s direction given parallel efforts to co-ordinate missile defence.
The Michelangelo Dome also stirred concern in Washington, where it was seen as a potential challenge to US systems such as Patriot interceptors, according to the people familiar with the company.
Cingolani said more than 20 countries had expressed interest in the technology and that the first delivery to Ukraine — for use in blind spots that are not covered by radar — would take place by November.
“The response of the market was very good,” he said. “I think we were interpreting a need. Not every country can afford to buy new weapons, so to offer them an air shield that can be used on any platform was a welcome initiative.”
However, US concerns over the air-shield plans were raised this year by officials at a dinner with Italy’s ambassador in Washington, according to three people briefed on the conversations, as well as in conversations in Rome this year between US diplomats and Italian government officials.
Cingolani said that while he had “no idea” what was discussed, “I might imagine that the technology might have been considered a bit competitive . . . But I think free-market competition is good.”
The US state department said it talked to the Italian government on a regular basis but “doesn’t disclose those private conversations”.
The people said Cingolani had also unsettled US officials by walking away from a potential deal with data intelligence group Palantir.
Leonardo’s chief was approached by Alexander Alden, who serves as senior counsellor for Palantir while also having a part-time role as special adviser to US secretary of state Marco Rubio, according to the people.
But talks between the two companies — whose substance is protected by a non-disclosure agreement — made little progress, as Palantir wanted to sell its software to Leonardo, while Cingolani was only willing to explore a joint venture to develop the technology together.
Palantir’s core defence and intelligence platform, Gotham, is used to “integrate data, improve situational awareness, task sensors such as drones or satellites, and support operational decisions”, according to the company’s website.
Leonardo and Palantir declined to comment.
One person close to Leonardo said that while rumours had circulated in the industry that Washington had a hand in Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s decision to replace Cingolani, they believed dissatisfaction within Italy’s defence apparatus had been an important factor.
Leonardo’s new CEO Lorenzo Mariani had been defence minister Guido Crosetto’s top pick to run Leonardo when Meloni first took power, but she instead installed Cingolani, who was a widely respected figure in the government of her predecessor Mario Draghi as well as a former chief technology officer at the group.
Mariani has recently won accolades for overseeing a rapid scale-up of production at the Italian division of European missile maker MBDA, in which Leonardo is a joint owner and where he was sent after missing out on the Leonardo top job.
An engineer and former navy officer, Mariani is a Leonardo veteran with strong knowledge of the company’s inner workings and the wider military environment.
“Italy needs a CEO of Leonardo who is able to work well with the Italian military and other military interlocutors in Europe,” Marrone said.
Cingolani believes he should have been given more time to execute his vision.
“If you perform well, continuity is beneficial to the company,” he said in his farewell call. “Three years is too short to develop a strategy and exploit it in an industry like defence.”
Crosetto paid homage to the outgoing CEO last week, thanking him on social media for his “tremendous work” and for “envisioning a more technological future for Leonardo, with great approval from the markets”.
But he said Italy’s largest manufacturer must now begin the next phase of its evolution “with the goal of becoming even more competitive, even faster and even more responsive”.