Leonardo’s M-40 target drone sees first action in Italian Navy training exercise

- During an exercise Italian Navy  personnel trained against M-40  drones. The M-40 simulated enemy  fighter jets and missile attacks

- The M-40 provides medium-to-high performance at a price comparable  with competitors’ entry-level  drones, convincingly  simulating a full spectrum of  radar, infrared (IR) and visual threats

- Leonardo owns  and operates the M-40 on behalf of the Italian Armed Forces as a managed service. An expansion in the provision of training services has been identified in Leonardo’s 2018-2022 industrial plan as a  key  area of sustainable growth 

Rome,  17th  November  2018  -  Leonardo’s  new  M-40  target  drone  flew  its  first  live  missions  for  the Italian  Navy  in  a  recent  training  exercise  at  an  Italian  joint  armed  forces  test  range.  The  exercise saw  the  aircraft  carrier  Cavour  and  its  complement  of  AV8B+  fighter  aircraft  training  alongside  the Navy destroyer Mimbelli against M-40 drones which were simulating a range of incoming threats.   

The  M-40  is  an  unmanned  air  vehicle  which  is  able  to  convincingly  mimic  a  variety  of  aircraft  and missiles.  It  provides  medium-to-high  performance  at  a  price  comparable  with  competitors’  entrylevel  drones.  During  the  exercise,  the  M-40  played  the  part  of  a  missile  to  simulate  an  attack against  the  Italian  naval  vessels  and  separately  acted  as  a  hostile  enemy  fighter  in  air-to-air combat  scenarios.  During  these  missions,  the  Navy  personnel  were  able  to  ‘shoot  down’  the reusable  M-40  in  realistic  scenarios,  allowing  them  to  train  with  weapon  systems  including  Aspide missiles. 

Leonardo  owns  and  operates  the  M-40  on  behalf  of  the  Italian  Armed  Forces,  under  a  managed service  arrangement  with  the  NATO  Support  and  Procurement  Agency  (NSPA).  This  exercise  was the  first  set  of  missions  to  make  use  of  the  M-40,  which  is  able  to  represent  a  full  spectrum  of radar,  infrared  (IR)  and  visual  threats.  Because  of  its  lower  operating  costs,  the  M-40  was  able  to provide the same level of training as previous exercises at  a  significantly reduced cost. 

Alongside  the  M-40,  Leonardo  continues  to  offer  the  Mirach  100/5,  which  shares  a  ground  control station  with  the  new  M-40  and  can  imitate  the  highest-performance  threats  facing  armed  forces. During  the  Italian  Navy  exercise,  the  Mirach  100/5  was  employed  to  simulate  a  missile  attack against the  naval vessels, allowing the crew to train with SM1  and Aster 15 missiles.   

Leonardo  has  operated  the  Mirach  100/5  for  20  years  under  a  managed  service  arrangement  for the  national  Armed  Forces.  The  new  M-40,  which  is  inexpesnive  to  run  and  has  60  minutes endurance, is now being  used to supplement this capability.