With over 60 years’ experience working closely with many Navies and developing the technologies necessary to face the complex challenges imposed by new scenarios, Leonardo is sponsoring and exhibiting at the seventh edition of Seafuture 2021 in La Spezia, Italy from 28 September to 1 October.
The biennial international event - organized in collaboration with the Italian Navy, Leonardo's historic partner - sees the participation of 50 Navies and international delegations, and a full agenda of meetings to explore the issues that will be central to the naval sector’s future challenges.
During Seafuture 2021, Leonardo’s stand is divided into two areas - Air and Water (the latter in turn divided into surface and underwater). It will showcase systems capable of accompanying the evolution of increasingly multi-domain operations, thanks to the development of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, automation, data processing and information management. Leonardo creates platforms – manned, unmanned and optionally manned - Command and Control systems, communication for the surface component, underwater, air, fixed-wing and rotary-wing, for the "terrestrial-amphibious", and for space and cyber, ensuring the cyber-by-design resilience of the system of systems and individual systems.
In La Spezia there is a full-scale mock-up of the AWHERO rotary wing drone equipped with the Gabbiano UL radar, both of which are among the protagonists of the first European research project for maritime surveillance OCEAN2020, of which Leonardo is the lead partner. The remotely piloted system, capable of operating from the deck of a ship, is capable of low cost / low maintenance land and naval, day and night missions and is the only RUAS (Rotary Unmanned Air System) in its class designed with the same safety standards applied to helicopters. Together with the drone, there will be a scale model of the C-27J aircraft, in the MPA / ASW maritime patrol version, and the console of the ATOS mission system which, by integrating different suites of Leonardo sensors, guarantees interoperability between manned and unmanned systems for effective sea surveillance.
Also on display is the new generation infrared alarm system MAIR (Multiple Aperture InfraRed), which Leonardo created for protecting fixed and rotary wing aircraft. The detector, which leverages Leonardo's experience in IRST sensors for fighter aircraft, can quickly identify long-range threats, continuing to track missiles in flight. The new ULISSES acoustic system (Ultra-LIght SonicS Enhanced System) is on the stand, suitable for any type of platform due to its compactness and lightness. The system is capable of seamless operation at maximum resolution, using acoustic information sources to provide accurate data relating to potential subsea units.
Vulcano 76 and 127mm naval ammunition and DART ammunition are also being showcased during Seafuture 2021, alongside the Black Scorpion sized torpedo, designed to support the contact classification process with minimum cost and maximum effectiveness. Additionally, the remote guided naval unit SWAD (Sea Watch Dog) equipped with the 12.7mm Lionfish Ultralight small-caliber naval turret, will be at the exhibition. Lionfish Ultralight, together with the 12.7mm Inner Reloading and Top models and 20mm Lionfish 20, is part of the new family developed and produced by Leonardo.
Leonardo’s stand also features a scale model of the Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Vessels (PPA - Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura), the newly designed ships part of the “Naval Program” that Leonardo equips with systems and sensors, and the SEonSE platform (Smart Eyes on the SEAs), Leonardo’s geospatial platform for maritime safety, created by e-GEOS, a Telespazio (80%) and Italian Space Agency (20%) company.
Being presented “virtually” is the Black Shark heavy torpedo, designed by Leonardo based on the operational needs of the Italian Navy, and the 76/62 Super Rapido high-performance light naval gun and the Mirach 40, the state-of-the-art target aircraft designed and manufactured by Leonardo.
