Edgewing Italia will link Italian work with Edgewing, the international joint venture responsible for aircraft design and development. Plans call for around 1,000 people to work for the Italian entity at full capacity.
More than 1,000 additional Leonardo employees will support partner-company activities. Most will be based at Turin and Caselle, although other Italian sites will also contribute.
Contracts fund the next design phase
The opening follows a £4.6 billion contract awarded to Edgewing by the GCAP Agency on 3 July. Jointly funded by the three countries, the agreement runs for 18 months.
It covers completion of the advanced analysis and concept phase before detailed design and development begins. An initial joint contract worth £686 million was awarded in April 2026.
Our first global site in Italy is now open 🎉 The facility in Turin will be home to thousands of engineering jobs, contributing to the development of the next generation combat aircraft under GCAP✈️. @Leonardo_live @LDO_Aeronautics @GCAP_int https://t.co/Doi4imoR8D https://t.co/bpmn3rnsh1
— Edgewing (@EdgewingLtd) October 9, 2026
GCAP was launched in 2022, bringing together initiatives from Italy, Japan and the UK. The GCAP International Government Organisation oversees the programme through the GCAP Agency.
Leonardo, BAE Systems and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. each hold a 33.3% stake in Edgewing. The company is headquartered in Reading, England, and led by chairman Herman Claesen and chief executive Marco Zoff.
Edgewing will retain design authority throughout the aircraft’s lifecycle, which will extend beyond 2070. Production and final assembly will be handled by national industries and their supply chains.
Fighter at the centre of a connected system
The future air system is designed to operate across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. The fighter will form its central platform, connected to other crewed and uncrewed systems.
Artificial intelligence and supercomputing will underpin the command-and-control and communications infrastructure. That infrastructure is intended to support coordinated missions across the connected platforms.
“GCAP is one of the most challenging and futuristic programmes in the Aerospace, Defence and Security sector, ensuring technological sovereignty for generations to come,” said Lorenzo Mariani, Leonardo’s chief executive officer and general manager. “I am proud that hundreds of engineers here in Turin, and thousands more around the country, will contribute to its success.”
“GCAP will drive the technological development and long-term growth of the economies of the countries involved, creating highly skilled jobs and supporting production ecosystems throughout the supply chain,” Mariani said. “Through GCAP, we are ensuring a safer and more prosperous future for Italy, as well as for our allies, Japan and the UK”.
Turin builds on its aerospace workforce
Leonardo said Turin’s concentration of aeronautical and engineering expertise drove the choice of location. The company already carries out engineering work in Turin and Eurofighter final assembly at nearby Caselle.
Italy’s GCAP participants also include Avio Aero, Elettronica and MBDA Italia. Their wider industrial base includes universities, research centres, small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.
Leonardo employs around 5,200 people in Piedmont, including approximately 2,200 at Caselle and nearly 1,800 in Turin. The region also hosts around 1,100 employees of the Thales Alenia Space joint venture.
According to Leonardo, its regional ecosystem supports more than 14,500 direct, indirect and induced jobs. It includes around 420 suppliers headquartered in Piedmont, 87% of them small and medium-sized enterprises.
Orders to those suppliers reached approximately €740 million in 2025. Leonardo’s research and development investment accounts for 9.7% of corporate R&D spending in the region.
