Italian defense company Leonardo announces plans for AI-powered shielding for cities and critical infrastructure (Leonardo SpA and subsidiaries)
© Leonardo SpA and subsidiaries
Italian defense company Leonardo on Thursday announced plans for AI-powered shields for cities and critical infrastructure, spurring Europe’s efforts to strengthen its sovereign defense capabilities amid rising geopolitical tensions.
The system, named Michelangelo Dome after Israel’s Iron Dome and US President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome project, integrates multiple defense systems to detect and neutralize sea-to-air threats, including missile attacks and drone swarms.
Leonardo’s Shares rose modestly on Thursday, up about 77% since January, as defense stocks across Europe have soared over the past year as the region’s governments raised defense spending.
british BAE Systems Germany, up 42.7% since the beginning of 2025 line metal 148.9% and France Thales 63.8%.
Leonardo’s Dome will be built on what CEO Roberto Cingorani called an “open architecture” system, meaning it can operate in parallel with any country’s defense system.
“In a world where threats are rapidly evolving and increasingly complex, and where defense costs more than offense, defense must innovate, anticipate and embrace international cooperation,” Singorani said at an event Thursday night.
The company aims to have the project fully operational by the end of the 2010s.
Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury told CNBC earlier Thursday that protocols for exchanging data between countries and teams on the battlefield remain “still quite limited,” adding that building Europe’s “digital battlefield” could take a decade.
Strengthening Europe’s defense capabilities
European governments are moving rapidly to increase defense spending, even as Europe’s main ally, the United States, has previously threatened to cut financial aid to the region.
In May, the EU announced a 150 billion euro ($173.5 million) program to provide long-term financing to member states for defense procurement and industrial capacity. NATO members also pledged in June to increase defense and security spending to 5% by 2035.
The announcement of Leonardo’s new dome system is part of an industry-wide move by major defense companies to shift investments “from standalone hardware to integrated command architectures,” Morningstar equity analyst Loredana Muharemi told CNBC.
“Modern wars are won by networks that can integrate all platforms into one decision-making cycle,” she said. “The winners will be the contractors who own the network layer, not the metal, and get regular upgrades and scale.”
Megan Welch, managing director at Brown Gibbons Lang & Co., said risks to Leonardo’s dome system include execution delays and “reliance on European procurement cycles.”
Major European companies are also increasingly competing with the region’s emerging class of defense technology startups.
German AI drone startup Hellsing raised €600 million in June, doubling its valuation to €12 billion, the Financial Times reported. Quantum Systems, which also develops autonomous defense technology, announced on Friday that it had tripled its valuation to more than 3 billion euros after raising 180 million euros.
