Italian defense company Leonardo just dropped its answer to Europe's sovereignty challenge - the 'Michelangelo Dome,' an AI-powered shield system designed to protect cities and critical infrastructure from everything from missile attacks to drone swarms. The announcement comes as European defense stocks surge and governments scramble to reduce dependency on U.S. military technology.
Leonardo just fired the latest shot in Europe's defense sovereignty battle. The Italian defense giant unveiled its 'Michelangelo Dome' on Thursday - an AI-powered shield system that CEO Roberto Cingolani says will revolutionize how cities and critical infrastructure defend against modern threats. The timing couldn't be more strategic as Europe races to build its own defense capabilities while U.S. support wavers.
The system takes direct inspiration from Israel's Iron Dome and Trump's proposed 'Golden Dome,' but Leonardo's betting on something different - integration over isolation. The Michelangelo Dome will detect and neutralize everything from missile attacks to drone swarms using what Cingolani calls an 'open architecture' approach. That means it can plug into any country's existing defense systems rather than forcing a complete overhaul.
'In a world where threats evolve rapidly and become ever more complex - and where defending is costlier than attacking - defense must innovate, anticipate and embrace international cooperation,' Cingolani told attendees at Thursday's unveiling event. The company's targeting full operational capability by 2030, a timeline that aligns with Europe's broader defense modernization push.
Investors are clearly buying the narrative. Leonardo's shares gained marginally Thursday but have already rocketed 77% since January. The surge reflects a sector-wide boom as European defense contractors capitalize on unprecedented government spending commitments. BAE Systems jumped 42.7% this year, Germany's Rheinmetall exploded 148.9%, and France's Thales climbed 63.8%.
But Leonardo's facing headwinds that go beyond technical challenges. The company must navigate what Meghan Welch from Brown Gibbons Lang & Company calls 'dependency on European procurement cycles' - bureaucratic processes that can stretch timelines and inflate costs. Meanwhile, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury warned that Europe's 'digital battlefield' integration could take a full decade to mature, with data exchange protocols between countries still 'quite limited.'
