May

May was an extremely significant month for our Electronic Warfare business, with two major announcements regarding Leonardo’s ground-breaking BriteCloud electronic countermeasure. Following BriteCloud’s selection by the United States Department of Defense for an evaluation trial by the US Air National Guard, it was announced the RAF Typhoons would undertake active trials of BriteCloud in the UK and US. This further strengthened Leonardo’s association with the Typhoon fleet, on which Leonardo provides more than 60% of the avionics.

Building upon the success of our airborne sensors, our PicoSAR e-scan radar was chosen to equip the new surveillance drones being provided by QinetiQ to the Canadian Armed Forces

Within the company’s helicopter business, it was announced that there would be further renewal of the Leonardo’s Distributorship Agreement in UK and Ireland with its key partner Sloane Helicopters. The agreement covers the AW109 GrandNew, AW109 Trekker and AW169 helicopters from 2019-2021.

Continuing our commitment to employee wellbeing, Leonardo organised a series of activities across our UK sites as part of #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. Employees were encouraged to attend workshops as part of raising the profile of mental wellbeing and talking about it more openly.

The end of May also marked the start of the summer-long 2019 RAF Typhoon Display Team schedule, with display pilot Jim Peterson taking the lead for his second successive year. Leonardo is proud to be one of the main team sponsors, and with the support of highly talented photographers Caroline Haycock and Viv Porteous, we were able to share some of the many highlights of the aircraft’s flying prowess over the season, on our social media and website.