The Arctic is one of the most vulnerable regions on the planet, at the center of unprecedented environmental and geopolitical transformation. This realization inspired the speech of Leonardo’s president, Stefano Pontecorvo, at the national conference dedicated to “Arctic, Defense and State Systems in the new challenges of global competition”, which took place in Rome.
Pontecorvo, after underlining how “the Arctic region today represents a point of convergence of double transitions, environmental and geopolitical”, explained how Leonardo, a national leader and leading player in the defense and space sectors, “is ready to contribute with real solutions, developed in Italy but designed to respond to global security and resilience needs in accordance with the principles of environmental and operational sustainability”.
The company presents itself as a technology player in a connected, secure and intelligently oriented digital ecosystem aimed at protecting global balance, capable of integrating space, cyber, land, air and sea capabilities in a truly multi-domain perspective. “Operating in the Arctic region, Pontecorvo recalled, meant facing the world’s most extreme environmental conditions every day: temperatures of up to 40°C, long periods of darkness, magnetic storms, spotty satellite coverage and frequently disrupted communications.” In a context like this, logistics, maintenance and training become strategic resilience factors.
To answer this challenge, Leonardo has developed an integrated solution capable of guaranteeing safety and operability even in the most extreme conditions. Like the AW101 helicopter, a multirole platform capable of operating from 40 to +35 degrees, with a range of more than 1,400 km. “Used for Search and Rescue, Combat SAR, and tactical transport missions, it represents a model of operational versatility and safety in critical environments.” The contribution of Space is also very important: the COSMO-SkyMed constellation, the flagship of European space systems, provides ultra-high resolution radar images in all weather conditions, guaranteeing continuous and timely situational awareness. In the ground sector, Leonardo offers solutions such as HITROLE® light towers, anti-drone systems and the new generation “C5ISTAR” (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) platform, which strengthens the information and decision-making dimensions of operations. “All assets – explains Pontecorvo – are structured according to the logic of systems, that is, fully integrated, in full support of joint and multinational missions in a context of high operational complexity”.
Leonardo can provide Artificial Intelligence for automatic target recognition and reduced crew cognitive load, to Digital Twins for realistic training, to quantum sensing and cybersecurity architecture for data protection and information superiority even in degraded environments. Not only that. This can guarantee predictive maintenance and augmented reality, for remote and intelligent management of fleet and operational infrastructure even thousands of kilometers away.
All this technology is based on Leonardo’s Digital Continuum infrastructure, powered by the Davinci-1 supercomputer, one of the world’s most powerful computers in the industrial sector, with a computing power of more than 6.6 petaflops and 25 petabytes.
storage capacity. “A digital ecosystem – the Pontecorvo node – that allows data to be turned into decisions and information into competitive advantages, in a fully multi-domain integration logic”.
