Police who filmed and wiretapped an alleged Russian military intelligence officer quizzing an accused informant in Italy heard him demanding information on systems like Europe’s Samp-T, which has been given to Kyiv, and the Michelangelo Dome, an air defense system developed by Italy’s Leonardo due to be tested in Ukraine in November.

The Russian accused of being an officer with Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU was followed as he met with Gavino Piras, 59, a former member of Italy’s secret service, who was arrested this week along with a second former Italian intelligence official.

Piras is accused of using cash supplied by the Russian official, Mikhail Astakov, to recruit informants in the Italian military who fed him secret information Astakov asked for. Five alleged informants are under investigation.

Court documents seen by Defense News allege that Astakov — who was a military attaché at the Russian embassy in Rome — gave Piras lists of information requests from his superiors at secret meetings and was given microSD cards packed with information which were left in a hole in a wall for collection.

The Russian paid out €4,000 ($4,600) in cash for each package of information, the investigators said.

“All that I can give you, I will give you, tell your boss that,” Piras told Astakov.

The requests show a determination to find out exactly how Europe was helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian missile and drone attacks.

Following a demand for information about the European Samp-T air defense system supplied by Italy and France to Ukraine, Piras refers to data about the battery he has passed over, and he also fields requests about the MBDA CAMM-ER air defense missile, which Ukraine is in talks to assemble.

Astakov also asks about Leonardo’s planned Michelangelo Dome, an air-defense system designed with open architecture to allow partner countries to link existing assets and make them interoperable.

Leonardo management has said the system will be trialed in Ukraine in November.

One note delivered in September 2025 requested information on a variety of topics including “Efficiency of attacks on Iranian nuclear structures, damage to the program, prospects of work restarting,” as well as Italy’s plans to purchase Storm Shadow missiles, rearmament plans for Italy, EU and NATO, “Priorities and objectives of EU defense” and “Help for Ukraine to build long distance missiles.”

The Russian was also curious about a Leonardo sub-sea drone he says the firm is testing in La Spezia in Italy.

In the transcripts reported in the court documents, Piras tells the Russian that British, not Italian, intelligence is assisting Ukraine in its long range strikes against Russia oil facilities.

Piras also claims that Italian experts are studying the workings of the Russian T90 tank. “They don’t understand how the machine gun mounted on it works autonomously. If they manage to steal the secret they will, so be careful,” he tells Astakov.

In April 2025, Astakov requested information on Avio, the Italian propulsion firm, months after it partnered with the US Army to supply missile solid rocket motors.

After Piras was arrested on Tuesday, his lawyer denied he had passed any classified information to Russia.

On Thursday, the Italian government announced it was expelling two Russian military attaches working at the Russian embassy, including Astakov.

“Moscow continues to use hybrid warfare to attack the West and Italy,” said Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani. “This is serious and unacceptable interference in Italian institutions and national security,” he added.

Thales will offer to buy the remaining Exail shares for €134 each, the company said on Monday. That’s a 44% premium to the Exail share price on June 25, the day before Safran announced talks with the Gorgé family at a price of €128.50 a share.

Safran said it ended exclusive negotiations on Friday about the potential acquisition after the parties were unable to reach mutually acceptable terms.

Exail provides maritime drones for several European autonomous mine-hunting systems, including the French program led by Thales. The market for mine warfare is expected to grow in the high single digits through to 2030, while the addressable market for unmanned anti-submarine warfare is forecast to increase eightfold by the end of the decade, Thales said in a presentation.

“With this acquisition, Thales aims to increase its scale in the underwater warfare market, and to expand its capabilities in inertial navigation systems through the addition of Exail’s complementary expertise,” the company said.

Thales said the acquisition allows it to gain critical mass in the growing market for unmanned mine countermeasures and speed up innovation in anti-submarine warfare. Exail produces a range of underwater and surface drones, as well as inertial navigation technology, with 76% of its sales coming from navigation and maritime robotics, and the remainder from advanced technologies.

Exail’s autonomous maritime drones are used for underwater mine clearing and seabed mapping, with emerging uses including anti-submarine warfare as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Thales is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of sonar systems, including towed sonar used by many Western navies.

The purchase by Thales of the Gorgé family stake is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, after which the company will file a mandatory tender offer for all of Exail’s shares and convertible bonds that is expected to close by early 2028 at the latest.

Thales said it expects “significant value creation” for its shareholders from the acquisition, with Exail adding to the company’s earnings per share from the first year, and an impact on Thales operating profit of more than €90 million by 2032.

Exail had 2025 revenue of €479 million, and an order book of €1.1 billion at the end of March, according to the presentation document. That compares with Thales sales of €22.1 billion last year, and an order book of €53.3 billion at the end of December.

Thales said the purchase will strengthen its underwater warfare business, allow it to gain market share in inertial navigation systems, and help accelerate development of quantum sensors. Combining the two companies could generate additional revenue of €500 million within 10 years, Thales said.

Fincantieri acquisitions

Meanwhile, Italian shipyard Fincantieri is spending €600 million to acquire four maritime drone and undersea engineering firms as it seeks to strengthen its role in the growing civil and defense undersea market.

The Italian state-controlled yard said it was buying firm Next Geosolutions, which offers offshore construction support services, as well as Italian start-ups WSense, Graal Tech and Defcomm which specialize in underwater communications and surface and undersea drones.

“The acquisitions announced today mark a historic transformation for Fincantieri, as it creates an international champion in the underwater domain,” the group’s CEO, Pierroberto Folgiero, said in a statement.

Supported by a €500 million capital increase in February, the acquisitions add to Fincantieri’s recent purchases of undersea firm Remazel and torpedo maker WASS.

Following the new acquisitions, Fincantieri’s sub-sea revenue will hit €1.1 billion this year, €1.4 billion in 2028 and €1.8 billion in 2030, the firm said.

Fincantieri said it would seek synergies between civilian and military sub-sea technologies, in the same way it has long sought synergies between its naval vessel and cruise ship businesses.

Following the acquisitions, Fincantieri will employ 1,500 in sub-sea activities in Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K., Norway and the United Arab Emirates, the firm said.

The three nations said on Friday they had handed the 18-month contract to Edgewing, the industrial consortium grouping firms building the sixth-generation fighter.

The announcement came three days after the announcement of the U.K.’s delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which contained funds for the fighter.

“The £4.6 billion contract will enable completion of the advanced concept and assessment phase of the program, and further joint detailed design and development,” the tri-nation agency running the program announced.

As the partners awaited the publication of the DIP this spring, they handed firms a £686 million stop-gap contract to keep work going until June 30.

To the relief of the partner firms, the DIP – which was released on the same day the stop gap contract expired – committed £8.6 billion ($11.4 billion) over four years to the program, more than the £6 billion expected.

The U.K.’s delay in finding the GCAP money sparked criticism from Japan, which is anxious to get a sixth-generation jet flying by the planned GCAP delivery date of 2035.

Japan’s prime minister reportedly threatened to pull out of a planned visit to the U.K. before the G7 in June if the U.K. failed to promise funding.

The signing of the contract comes days ahead of the opening of the U.K. Farnborough airshow this month.

U.K. defense procurement minister Luke Pollard called the contract “a major step forward towards delivery” of the GCAP.

He added, “This milestone strengthens our partnership with international allies, supports thousands of highly skilled jobs across the UK, and will give the RAF the tools they need to keep the UK safe, all backed by an £8.6 billion commitment in the defense investment plan.”

Edgewing, the industrial consortium running the program teams local champions BAE Systems, Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (JAIEC).

Edgewing is now expected to hand its own contracts to tri-nation consortia managing the electronics and propulsion on the jet.

Sources close to the program told Defense News the next contract was made possible by the U.K.’s timely commitment of £8.6 billion ($11.4 billion) over four years to the U.K.-Italy-Japan jet program in its its long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which was published on Tuesday.

The cash means the three nations can now hand a contract before the biennial U.K. airshow near London to Edgewing, the industrial consortium representing firms from the three nations, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Originally due last year, the U.K. DIP was delayed as generals and politicians battled over defense funds. With little sign of the row abating, the U.K.’s partners on the sixth generation GCAP grew increasingly anxious over delays in the program, which is due to put a plane in the air by 2035.

In April the partners signed a stopgap contract to keep work going for three months to give the U.K. time to find long-term cash.

The joint program office created by the three nations announced the signing of a £686 million development contract with Edgewing, which teams local champions BAE Systems, Leonardo, and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co. Ltd. (JAIEC).

On Tuesday, three months on, the DIP was unveiled by outgoing UK prime minister Keir Starmer, saving blushes in London.

“The money for the GCAP in the DIP is slightly more than the £6bn we expected,” said Francis Tusa, the editor of UK site Defence Analysis.

Getting the cash was not however certain, he added.

“The Italians were irritated by the U.K. delay and the Japanese even more so. I was told that the Japanese prime minister threatened to pull out of a planned visit to the U.K. before the G7 in June and go and see the French instead,” he said.

During the U.K. visit by the Japanese, Prime Minister Starmer signed a commitment to find the funds, Tusa said.

It is believed that Andy Burnham, who is likely to become Britain’s next prime minister, will seek to stand by the GCAP commitments.

After Edgewing is handed a contract to continue work on GCAP, it is expected to hand its own contracts to tri-nation consortia managing the electronics and propulsion on the jet.

Tusa said the way forward for the jet was not entirely risk-free.

“The British defense ministry wanted £28 billion for the DIP and has received £15 billion, of which £4.7 billion still needs to be found in this year’s budget. Additionally the ministry has to come up with £10.7 billion in savings. The GCAP money announced now by the U.K. will get the Italians and the Japanese off its back for now, but there are still details to be worked out,” he said.

The Leonardo test jet flew alongside the Turkish drone at Baykar’s flight and test center in Çorlu, Leonardo said in a statement.

The flight followed the signing of a drone cooperation deal between Italy’s Leonardo and Baykar last year, which envisaged the construction in Italy of Baykar drones with Leonardo systems on board.

The flight test campaign in Turkey involved two Leonardo M-346 jets: a Leonardo owned M-346 Fighter Attack Variant, with an Italian Air Force trainer acting as chase aircraft – as well as the Kizilelma.

Following an autonomous taxi and take-off, the Kizilelma autonomously linked to the M-346 using “an advanced radio frequency data exchange system” to synchronize data, Leonardo said.

During the test flight, the two aircraft undertook a series of missions to test algorithms, tactics and procedures developed by Leonardo in Italy.

“Kizilelma’s advanced autonomy capabilities greatly simplified the integration process, allowing for seamless implementation and rapid deployment,” Leonardo said.

“Leonardo and Baykar set a major milestone in the development of Crewed/UnCrewed Teaming (CUC-T) and swarm tactics capabilities,” the firm claimed.

“The refinement and maturity of AI technology, algorithms and collaborative procedures will enable the uncrewed systems to incrementally shift from remote piloting to autonomy, with the aim of reducing pilot workload and increasing mission efficiency while maintaining full control and decision-making,” it added.

“New tests are planned in the coming months, with increasing complexity and additional functions,” the firm added.

Baykar contributed Smart Fleet Autonomy capabilities integrated into the crewed/uncrewed teaming algorithms using its own software and hardware infrastructure.

As a partner on the GCAP fighter program, Leonardo will be seeking to sharpen its skills in deploying Loyal Wingman drones – an envisaged key aspect of GCAP operations.

Another ambitious European effort to integrate crewed fighters with collaborative uncrewed systems had been the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS program, which envisioned remote carrier loyal wingman drones operating alongside a next-generation manned fighter.

The FCAS Next Generation Fighter component was terminated in June 2026 after Germany and France failed to resolve industrial disagreements, although other FCAS elements such as a Combat Cloud are expected to continue.

Devrim Yaylali in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Addressing the Italian parliament this week, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Italy had decided against backing the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) scheme, under which nations agree to fund the purchase of U.S. arms which are then transferred to Ukraine.

“We have said no from the beginning, and it is still a no,” Crosetto said, in reference to PURL.

This month, NATO said contributors have now pledged nearly $6 billion to PURL, with cash to be focused on air defense systems for Ukraine.

NATO has said the scheme has helped fund the purchase from the U.S. of 70% of all missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot batteries and 90% of all ammunition used in other air defense systems.

Contributors include Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden, which said on Thursday it had now put $543 million in the scheme.

Italy’s decision not to participate follows its announcement it will probably not subscribe to the EU’s NEC scheme which allows member states to exempt a quantity of defense spending from calculations of annual deficit spending in order to allow extra arms purchases without breaking EU deficit rules.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has also said Italy may not enter the EU’s SAFE loans program, which would have ensured €14.9 billion in cheap loans for defense spending.

Meloni has warned that her government needs to focus on covering the cost of rising fuel bills. She is focusing a reelection campaign next year at a time when defense spending is falling out of favor with voters.

Crosetto, who is known to be in favor of taking out SAFE loans, told parliament on Wednesday the decision on entering the scheme rested with Italy’s finance ministry.

“The decision to adhere or not adhere to SAFE cannot be taken by the Ministry of Defense,” he said.

Italian government sources told Defense News discussions were still ongoing over using the loans.

On Monday, Crosetto flew to the U.S. to meet US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who posted after the meeting they had agreed on the “urgent need for NATO allies to increase defense spending, expand defense industrial production, and field combat-credible military forces.”

On Thursday, Hegseth was in Brussels, telling a meeting of NATO defense ministers that, “Some of Nato’s largest economies, some of our richest countries, allies that are happiest to go on about the rules-based international order and middle powers banding together, still seem to think the era of free-riding is here.” He did not specify which countries he was referring to.

Even as Meloni speaks of the need to focus on spending at home to reduce the cost of living for voters, Italy has told NATO it will join alliance members in pushing defense spending to 5% of GDP – a total made up of 3.5% in weaponry and 1.5% in spending on domestic security.

Last year, Italy announced it had increased defense spending from around 1.5% to 2% by recategorizing existing spending on Italy’s tax police and coast guard, as well as outlays on space and cyber defense, as defense spending.

On June 11, Meloni said she would announce at the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8 that Italy’s defense spending would hit 2.8% of GDP this year.

That rise comes thanks to “growth of 0.71%, guaranteed above all by spending linked to homeland defense,” she told parliament.

Italian government sources told Defense News that the new spending announced by Meloni would cover border security, cyber, space and dual-use technology and would form part of the 1.5% extra envisaged by NATO.

Healey took aim at the U.K. government’s long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP), designed to shore up Britain’s military readiness but held up for months as government departments tussle over funding.

In his resignation letter to Starmer, which Healey posted on Thursday, he said he had now seen the defense funding plan, and it “falls well short of what is required.”

He added, ”You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”

He told the prime minister, “After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your defense secretary.”

Healey said that the spending plan agreed by the British Treasury would push defense spending to 2.68% of GDP by 2030, not enough considering that it would already hit 2.6% next year.

He admitted more funding would follow after 2030 but complained that the “imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years,” given the current threat posed by Russia.

“Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe,” he wrote.

Healey’s resignation could prove a last straw for Starmer’s Labour government, which has been shaken by internal dissent and calls on the prime minister to resign.

As the U.K. has dragged its heels on finalizing the DIP – with promises to publish it before the NATO summit in Turkey next month – doubt has been cast on Britain’s commitment to the sixth generation GCAP fighter program on which it is teamed with Japan and Italy. Last month, the UK signed a stopgap contract to keep work going on the program for three months. Now partners will be keen to see what money is available in the DIP to keep GCAP funded beyond that.

Healey’s resignation drew sympathy on Thursday from Italy’s defense minister Guido Crosetto, who is also battling threatened cuts to defense spending in Italy amid rising energy costs caused by the US-Iran conflict.

“I completely understand your reflections and the reasons that led you to make this choice,” Crosetto posted in response Healey’s resignation.

“It is a choice that cannot leave any of us, your colleagues, grappling with the very same challenges, indifferent.

“I find myself in agreement with almost everything you have written, and the thoughts you have made public today have often been my own as well,” he said.

Leonardo CEO Lorenzo Mariani spoke on Wednesday after the collapse of the French-German Future Combat Air System program on Monday, following months of rows between French and German industry over work share on the sixth-generation jet.

Meanwhile, Italy, Japan and the UK are teaming on the rival GCAP project and are aiming to fly a new aircraft by 2035.

Asked if Germany could get on board the program, Mariani told Defense News: “It would be a good thing in terms of capabilities and cost sharing, but one also has to be mindful about the target date of 2035 for having the jet flying.”

He added that the advantages of a new partner were extra cash and know-how.

“While this is more for governments to evaluate and decide upon, more partners possibly joining GCAP would bring more competences and financial support,” he said.

“Clearly, we have to be mindful that this might have an impact on development schedule and milestones. So we need to bear in mind we have to find the right balance,” he added.

Japan is already reportedly nervous about the the 2035 deadline slipping, particularly given the UK’s current struggles to raise new defense funding.

Speaking on Tuesday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius listed three options to ensure Germany’s fighter needs following the collapse of FCAS, which was first planned in 2017.

One option was to purchase more F-35s to fill the gap, a second option was to join an existing international program, while the third option – Pistorius said – was to start a new program “under German leadership with Airbus and other partners.”

The third option would add yet another new fighter in Europe, just as the continent attempts to reduce overlapping programs, increase jointly designed and built systems and save scant funds in the process.

Mariani said, “Europe cannot have too many sixth-generation fighters under development, this is neither affordable nor helps Europe’s competitiveness.”

Meanwhile, Airbus is said to be considering a potential connection with Sweden’s Saab in the push for a next-gen fighter, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Stockholm has been keeping its options open for buying or developing a new fighter jet to succeed the country’s Gripen warplanes, with only exploratory studies having taken place so far.

One answer lies in Italy, where a growing number of nations are lining up to use an unlikely location built deep underground in the 1930s by the government of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Lurking under woodland in Fornovo Taro near Parma lies a system of five massive, drum-shaped cisterns which once held aviation fuel as well as 2km of connecting passageways, all designed to withstand enemy bombing.

“Gaza has accelerated the use of this place like this – despite their technology, the Israelis were not ready for fighting in tunnels,” said a manager at the site, who spoke to Defense News but declined to be named due to company policy.

Israel is among 17 national customers who have now trained at the privately run site known as La Carona, with other special forces units arriving from countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Poland, Greece and Turkey.

The U.S. Green Berets have also used the site as does a dedicated Italian army underground fighting unit created by the Italian army Folgore paratrooper brigade.

After resisting 150 bombing runs by the Allies in the Second World War, the cisterns continued to be used by the Italian Air Force to hold aviation fuel until 2000 when the site was abandoned and the fuel drained out.

In 2020 the La Carona was purchased and reopened for training by its current owners.

“We saw the site and decided it would be perfect for special forces training,” said the manager.

The cylindrical tanks, which are supported by concrete columns, measure around 20 meters in diameter by seven meters in height and are linked by tunnels which once channelled fuel between them. Another 1km long tunnel once carried fuel to a nearby train station.

Special forces entering the tunnels now engage in simulated combat.

The space recreates the limitations of real tunnel fighting – from darkness, to limited radio use to no GPS. A control room allows trainers to generate sound, including the noise of explosions, as well as smoke and lighting.

Robot canines and real dogs, as well as drones that can function without GPS can all be introduced.

“The key ability to learn here is how to map underground spaces,” said the manager.

Combat in tunnels grabbed the headlines as the Israel Defense Forces entered the so-called Gaza Metro – a system of tunnels thought to total hundreds of miles – when it sought out hostages taken during the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

A year earlier, Ukrainian forces held out for weeks against Russian attacks in the labyrinth of underground tunnels under the Azovstal iron and steel works in Mariupol, which was described as a ‘fortress within a city’.

“Most of the world’s population now lives in an urban setting and war is increasingly fought in cities. Underground combat can make the difference,” said the manager.

The privately run school for fighter pilots in Ontario will acquire six jets with options for another six, with deliveries due to start in 2029, Leonardo said.

The school has chosen the Block 20 version of the platform, which features a new cockpit with a Large Area Display designed to train pilots to fly 5th-generation aircraft like the F-35.

The ITPS currently trains pilots on the Aero Vodochody L-39 and is working with over ten air forces to provide advanced jet training, ITPS Executive Chairman Giorgio Clementi said.

The M-346 has now flown over 160,000 hours with over 160 aircraft sold to date.

The aircraft originated as a pure trainer jet which has been sold to Italy, the Republic of Singapore, Israel, Poland, Qatar and Greece.

Its more recent trainer-light fighter version has been sold to Indonesia, Turkmenistan, Austria and Nigeria.

The fighter version boasts seven external hard points able to integrate air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and targeting pods linked to Helmet Mounted Displays.

Leonardo is also seeking to sell the trainer to the U.S. Navy and has teamed with Textron to offer an American-built version.

The Navy is seeking to replace its fleet of Boeing T-45 Goshawks.