Pioneering a New Era: Leonardo Becomes the UK’s First Defence Leader to Transition to Secure Cloud Solutions

In partnership with Microsoft and Accenture, Leonardo has implemented the cloud-enabled Azure platform throughout its UK operations, becoming the leading major defence contractor in the UK to transfer essential applications onto the secure cloud. Leonardo’s scientists and engineers based in the UK will now enjoy safe access to a remote ‘digital backbone’ that will accelerate product research, reduce development expenses, and facilitate closer collaboration with clients and other collaborators. Moving forward, Leonardo will harness this digital backbone to capitalize on the vast amounts of data it gathers, leading to innovative products and services.

Leonardo, famously recognized in the UK as the Home of British Helicopters and for its domestic production of sophisticated electronics for the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fleet, is dedicating approximately £100M this year in the UK as part of its ongoing enabling strategy, including the Future Factory transformation initiative. Last year, the company implemented digital electronics factories nationwide, with a ‘common data environment’ providing engineers swift access to big data.

Gareth Hetheridge, Director of Digital and IT at Leonardo UK, stated: “With the launch of the Leonardo digital backbone, employees, partners, and customers can now securely access pertinent data and applications anytime, anywhere. This will be essential as the industry evolves toward a model of defence contracting where companies and customers collaborate more closely than ever, despite their physical locations across the nation and internationally. Our strong collaboration with Microsoft UK and Accenture has empowered us to quickly adopt this transformative technology, and we take pride in promoting the advantages of cloud computing for the UK defence sector.”

Aaron Neil, Director of Defence & Secure Markets at Microsoft UK, remarked: “During the past year, we have collaborated with Leonardo UK to gain insights into its digital transformation goals and priorities. We are thrilled to assist Leonardo’s transition to Azure, providing top-notch security for cloud access; this announcement reflects our robust partnership and serves as an important milestone in deploying advanced technology to boost capability delivery for UK Defence.”

Louisa Hainsworth, Managing Director and Accenture’s Microsoft Business Group Lead in UKI, noted: “We are empowering Leonardo to dismantle barriers in the defence sector through the advantages of a cloud-first ecosystem. Their dedication to continuous evolution, acquiring new skills, and adopting new technologies will enable Leonardo to deliver next-generation defence capabilities swiftly.”

Cloud solutions will facilitate the execution of collaborative modern defence initiatives such as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), where Leonardo plays a pivotal role in a global initiative to create a 6th generation combat system. Aiming to produce the platform in half the time of prior generation systems, the project demands transformational work practices that encourage partners to collaborate more dynamically. Secure cloud technology will underpin all of these objectives.

While cloud solutions have gained increased prominence in recent years, security apprehensions have historically hindered the UK’s defence industry from fully capitalizing on cloud technology. Now, with the Azure platform, Leonardo is poised to leverage cloud benefits while enhancing security.

Leonardo’s digital transformation initiative and the adoption of a digital backbone are propelled by the understanding that its high-tech enterprise relies on the innovative capabilities of its 8,000 highly skilled UK-based professionals. The digital backbone will aid the company in streamlining or eliminating processes where feasible and

automating monotonous but non-value tasks. By executing this, it will create more mental space and time for its workforce to focus on what truly matters: innovating, creating, and solving challenges.

The implementation of the Leonardo digital backbone will elevate productivity while also furthering the company’s ambition to ‘unleash the potential of defence data,’ aligning with the Ministry of Defence’s Digital Strategy for Defence.

This ambition will also be reinforced by Leonardo’s recently unveiled site in Newcastle. Here, 200 new roles will primarily be high-value science and engineering positions, particularly focusing on emerging digital and data technologies.