A full-scale mockup of the Piaggio Aerospace’s P.1 HH Hammerhead unmanned aerial system is presented at the International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget on June 17, 2015. (ERIC PIERMONT/AFP via Getty Images)
BEIRUT — Turkish firm Baykar has been approved by the Italian government to buy Italian aviation giant Piaggio Aerospace in a move that thecompany says will expand its reach in the European Union.
“The relaunch of the company is guaranteed, with a clear and ambitious industrial vision,” Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said, according to a statement from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy. “After six years of waiting, we are giving Piaggio Aerospace a future, a strategic asset for our country, with a long-term production perspective, safeguarding corporate complexes and workforce.”
Baykar outbid two other offers for the sale, according to the ministry’s statement, though the value of the deal was not disclosed.
Piaggio Aerospace was launched in 1884, and specializes in designing developing, manufacturing and maintaining aircraft, UAVs and engines. Piaggio Aerospace has developed the P.1HH HammerHead and P.180 Avanti unmanned aerial systems — giving it obvious synergies with Baykar, which rose to prominence on the back of its own UAV designs — and also conducts maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) services.
“It makes sense for Baykar to buy an Italian company. This will provide access to European markets, but also access to EU funded projects,” Caglar Kurc, a defense analyst and assistant professor at Abdullah Gül University, told Breaking Defense.
“I also think that this would protect Baykar’s business with European countries if there are any crises between Turkey and European countries (or EU),” he said.
Turkey was previously part of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 fifth-generation aircraft program, with Turkish firms producing parts of the aircraft. In 2019, however, the US suspended Turkey’s participation in the program over Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense systems.
Piaggio Aerospace was selected in 2004 by Pratt & Whitney America to produce and supply components of F-135 engine for the F-35. With the purchase of Piaggio, it is possible Turkey could regain access to the F-35 supplier program. Spokespeople for Pratt & Whitney did not respond to a request for comment by press time about what Piaggio’s current role on the F135 engine production line is or whether the company had any concerns about that role.
A full return to F-35 program is “unlikely” as long as Turkey has the S-400, Kurc said. But, “Baykar, through Piaggio will become a supplier to F-35 [which] is pretty interesting to watch,” he said.
