Leonardo is working on the relaunch of the Aerostructures division with a new investment plan of 300 million euros and is concentrating on expanding the production base of the Grottaglie (Taranto) site, currently the most impacted by the consequences of the pandemic on civil aviation. The news is that Grottaglie will take care of the solar-powered drone. It will be the first program that could kick-start the production diversification of the plant which, from the start in 2006 to today, has built only two sections of the carbon fiber fuselage of the Boeing 787. To reduce the single client, already this year to Grottaglie could start the industrial activity of prototypes of the solar-powered drone. Yesterday morning in Grottaglie there was the second visit, in the last three months, by the top management of Skydweller. It is the Spanish-American startup engaged in the development of the first solar-powered drone capable of carrying a high payload, with almost unlimited persistence in flight, based on the Solar Impulse 2 aircraft that had traveled around the world in 2016. Leonardo, a lot active on the fronts of technology and innovation in autonomous flight, it has recently invested in Skydweller Aero.
In fact, he has a shareholding in this company as well as being a technological partner of the project. Skydweller is conceived as an innovative aerial platform: it combines unprecedented persistence and range with the flexibility typical of a remotely piloted aircraft. It will be able to travel at a cruising speed of 25-50 knots and a maximum altitude of 14,000 meters. The wings covered by approximately 270 square meters of photovoltaic cells will generate the power needed to ensure unlimited flight of the aircraft and significant payloads. Possible uses of the drone include land and sea surveillance, environmental and infrastructure monitoring, geo-information services, telecommunications and precision navigation, as well as the provision of communications to support operators in emergency situations.
As for the 300 million plan for all Aerostructures – whose plants are in the South: Pomigliano D’Arco, Nola, Foggia and Grottaglie -, it is aimed at consolidating the centrality of the business through the technological updating of programs, plants and production processes. . Furthermore, in addition to Skydweller, the Tarantino plant has been included in the “European Male Rpas” program – also known as Eurodrone – which involves industries from France, Spain, Germany and Italy. In Grottaglie, in particular, the carbon fiber wings of the remotely piloted aircraft will be produced. And again in Grottaglie, the new MaTeRIA Lab (Materials Technology Research and InnovAtion Lab) took shape for the study of advanced materials as well as the new Joint Lab between Leonardo and the Solvay group. The latter is the joint research laboratory for the development of new composite materials and new production processes considered fundamental for the future of the aerospace industry.
The new investments are the prospect for overcoming a 2022 that still promises to be difficult due to the consequences of the pandemic while the recovery is in sight in 2023. A procedure for the use of layoffs for a total of 3,500 employees is in place on the part of the company. in Aerostructures, of which 1,049 in Grottaglie.
At the cash desk Leonardo arrives after having managed part of 2020 and all of 2021 without an hour of cig but using a mix of alternative solutions agreed with the union: provision of hours, professional training, collective closures concentrated in the periods of holidays, demonetization of midweek holidays. Long periods of inactivity in Grottaglie, a site that has so far produced over 1,100 fuselage sections of the 787.