Joint venture LBA Systems, owned by Italy's Leonardo and Turkey's Baykar, unveiled a Bayraktar TB3-derived combat drone under the new name Astore Levante and declared itself fully operational at Farnborough on 22 July. Leonardo is an Italian defence and aerospace prime; Baykar is the drone maker behind the combat-proven TB3 airframe. The aircraft mates that airframe with Leonardo sensors, mission systems and ground control, and will be built through Leonardo's own production lines. 1
Leonardo and Baykar chose neither an in-house build nor a straight licence. A cross-border joint venture takes an airframe already flying in service and puts a European industrial base beneath it, handing Baykar's portfolio a Western manufacturing home and a route into NATO buyers Ankara alone struggles to reach. Production through Italian facilities also gives European air forces a supplier inside the bloc rather than an import.
That is a distinct answer to the sovereignty question, set against the build-at-home route Britain chose for its own combat drone . LBA Systems reaches that tier by pooling a proven airframe with European systems and a European line, trading full sovereign control for a faster path to a productionised aircraft.
