Leonardo Defence Business Area widens its portfolio and increases its production capacity
The major Italian defence group, Leonardo, is the result of the conglomeration into a single company of a number of entities, some of which were formed in the early 1900s. It is the case of the facility in Brescia, 90 km west of Milan, which will soon celebrate its 100th anniversary. In 1924 it became the site of Società italiana Ernesto Breda, a privately owned company funded in 1886, then in 1952 Breda Meccanica Bresciana, it has always dealt with guns, ranging from hunting rifles to artilleries. Following a series of name changing, the site now hosts part of the Leonardo Defence business area, which is part of the group Electronic Division.
Being 100 years old does not means looking backwards and while history plays a role in a company, today Leonardo Defence business area, part of the group Electronic Division, looks very much forward, and a few months before the centennial anniversary it unveiled two new products and detailed another one, announced one year ago, all in what is usually referred to as medium calibre, although in Brescia the wording is small calibre, as these are the smaller calibre weapons currently designed and manufactured by Leonardo.
Beside the Brescia facility, the Defence business area has also plants in La Spezia, where barrels of all calibres are made and tracked vehicle chassis were manufactured in the past, and will probably be produced in the early future, in Longhorn, and in Rome, the site hosting Larimart, a company falling under the business area.
The media briefing organised in Brescia allowed EDR On-Line to gather information on the new products, as well as on the investments made in increasing the production capacity to answer the growing demand generated by the current geopolitical situation.
Hereafter EDR On-Line readers will find the three articles that were written following the visit, a fourth to be added in autumn when more will probably be announced and detailed.
Leonardo enlarges its multi-domain defence systems portfolio, entering the small calibres gun manufacturer market
Leonardo details its 30 mm X-Gun and announces first two customers
