Leonardo's order intake surged 28 per cent in the first nine months of 2026 to €60.4 billion, pushing the Italian state-backed defence group past the €60 billion threshold for the first time. The figure, released on Thursday alongside board-approved results for the period, includes roughly €6 billion from the March acquisition of Iveco Group's Defence division.
The Iveco effect
The Iveco deal closed in March and accounts for about one-tenth of the headline increase. Leonardo has not disclosed the purchase price or the division's standalone order contribution prior to consolidation, so the quality of that €6 billion increment, how much is fresh export demand versus domestic backlog rolled in, remains opaque. What is clear is that the acquisition instantly broadened Leonardo's land-systems portfolio at a moment when European armies are re-arming.
Revenues rising across the board
Revenues grew in every division, helicopters, defence electronics, aircraft and space, though Leonardo did not publish segment percentages or a group revenue total in the statement. Chief executive Lorenzo Mariani framed the top-line momentum as proof of "financial solidity" and "expansion of our production capacity". The subtext is a bottleneck: the backlog is swelling faster than the factories can deliver, a familiar dynamic across European defence primes.
Partnerships over platforms
Mariani's narrative emphasised structure over hardware. He cited the GCAP sixth-generation fighter programme with the UK and Japan, a land-systems joint venture with Rheinmetall, a drone venture with Turkey's Baykar, and a proposed European space alliance with Airbus and Thales. The Michelangelo Dome technology programme rounds out a strategy that leans on industrial risk-sharing rather than balance-sheet-heavy M&A. The state shareholder, sitting via the Ministry of Economy and Finance, has so far backed that approach.
What to watch
The next test is conversion. Leonardo guided to "further improve our capabilities" to turn orders into deliveries, but offered no medium-term margin or cash-flow targets in the release. Investors will want to see whether the Iveco integration absorbs management bandwidth or unlocks cross-selling, and whether the GCAP and space JVs move from memoranda to funded contracts. The backlog is a stock; the P&L is a flow. The gap between them is where the next set of numbers will be won or lost.