By James Scott
CANSEC 2019 puts a lot of very busy people within reach of inquisitive types, in this case, allowing me to speak with Francesco Norante.
EdeC: Your company, in one form or another has been here for a long time, but there’s a new corporate structure for Leonardo in Canada, could you talk about that?
Norante: The company, last year, started to push quite a lot in terms of industrial presence world-wide. One of the strategic countries we identified was Canada. So, we have been here for the last fifty years, particularly DRS Canada. Over all, in Canada we have 400 people, spread out between Ottawa, where we have multiple locations, and Halifax.
However, last year our CEO, Allessandro Profumo, decide our presence abroad needed to be co-ordinated. So, he established a new office, located at 55 Metcalfe in downtown Ottawa and we created a national company, a full Canadian company.
Our responsibility is to co-ordinate commercial activities of the five divisions: Space, Helicopters, Aircraft training solutions, cyber security and critical infrastructure. We also have a mandate to expand the domestic market.
Our goal is to leverage technology that we have in the global group. We have over 46,000 employees around the world in 150 countries. We invest heavily in research and development; around 12% of our revenues are re-invested in new technologies.
What we like to do in Canada is leverage all the expertise that, at the moment, is not necessarily in Canada, bring that in and leverage what is in Canada.
There are a lot of start-ups, a lot of medium and small enterprises that can be complementary to our solutions. We would like to help them join us in terms of the global supply chain. So, it’s going to be of mutual benefit.
EdeC: Will this lead to Leonardo’s various national companies concentrate in certain areas rather than all do the same thing?
Norante: Yes, definitely. We are focused on the campaign we have already identified so, as you may know, we are advanced in the negotiation for the for the Cormorant Mid-Life Upgrade. We want to continue for the next twenty years, that will allow us to invest a lot in terms of new technologies and support Canada in terms of Search and Rescue operations which is critical to the country.
We are short-listed for the Flight Aircrew Training (FAcT), one of five qualified suppliers, which is a massive, complex campaign.
We have a contract for air traffic control radars, so we are going to invest in this country to replace an obsolete system all across the country. We have another contract for weather radars.
There are different areas of investment. We are looking at cyber security because we have a full division in Europe. We have developed a lot of expertise with NATO.
We are not just talking about products, but entire solutions. Leonardo has a unique capability to cover a very large spectrum of solutions and we invest in all of them. In Canada we have the possibility that we can mimic all the technology right across the board. It’s a very open field for us.
EdeC: At CANSEC your booth had the Aermacchi 345 jet trainer on display. Are you hoping to see some signal on replacing our training fleet soon?
Norante: what I can tell you is Leonardo is one of the few, if not the only company around who has invested a lot in aircraft trainers, that will always be a part of our approach. Training solutions has to include a platform and that is our interim solution. Obviously, we are aware of what is present in the country; the necessity to boost the economy and open the door to collaboration, so we are very flexible on that.
What we are trying to do in many activities is push for a tailored solution, a flexible solution that is good for the military. We are not here trying to push something the end user doesn’t need.
EdeC: The fashion in business is sometimes to grow big and broad and at other times to sell off acquisitions to focus on core business. Does Leonardo have the right mix of global reach and expertise?
Norante: Flexibility is one of the key aspects of success. You try to shape your solutions according to what the market wants and try to identify the best solution for the end-user.
Our divisions are not territorial but based on expertise world-wide. Then we have corporate to ensure co-ordination. Plus, in each country, you have a company like Leonardo Canada that is able to co-ordinate key exports.
I think, personally, I’ve been with the company for ten years, and I think it’s the best time to be with this company.
