Leonardo unveils 'Michelangelo Dome' as Europe looks to bolster sovereign defense systems

Italian defence institution Leonardo connected Thursday unveiled plans for an AI-powered shield for cities and captious infrastructure, adding to Europe's propulsion to ramp up sovereign defence capabilities amid rising geopolitical tensions.

The system, dubbed the "Michelangelo Dome" successful a motion to Israel's Iron Dome and U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for a "Golden Dome," volition integrate aggregate defence systems to observe and neutralize threats from oversea to aerial including rocket attacks and drone swarms.

Leonardo's shares were marginally higher Thursday and is up astir 77% since January, amid a twelvemonth of steep rises for defence stocks crossed Europe arsenic the region's governments person hiked defence spending. 

The UK's BAE Systems roseate 42.7% since the commencement of 2025, Germany's Rheinmetall 148.9% and France's Thales 63.8%.

Leonardo's dome volition beryllium built connected what CEO Roberto Cingolani called an "open architecture" strategy meaning it tin run alongside immoderate country's defence systems.

"In a satellite wherever threats germinate rapidly and go ever much analyzable — and wherever defending is costlier than attacking — defence indispensable innovate, expect and clasp planetary cooperation," said Cingolani, during an lawsuit connected Thursday evening.

The institution is targeting the task being afloat operational by the extremity of the decade.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told CNBC earlier connected Thursday that the protocols to speech information betwixt countries and teams connected the battlefield were inactive "still rather limited," adding it could instrumentality a decennary to physique retired Europe's "digital battlefield."

European governments person rapidly committed to accrued defence spending arsenic the U.S., a cardinal state for the bloc, has antecedently threatened to reduce fiscal enactment successful the region. 

In May the EU announced a 150 cardinal euro ($173.5 million) programme to supply semipermanent loans to subordinate states for defence procurement and concern capacity. NATO members besides committed to expanding defence and information spending to 5% by 2035 successful June.

Leonardo's unveiling of its caller dome strategy is portion of a assemblage wide determination from starring defence primes that's seeing them displacement "investment from standalone hardware to integrated bid architectures," Loredana Muharremi, equity expert astatine Morningstar told CNBC. 

"Modern warfare is won by the web that tin integrate each level into 1 determination cycle," she said. "The winners volition beryllium the contractors that ain the web layer, not the metal, which seizure recurring upgrades and scale."

Risks to Leonardo's dome strategy see execution delays and "dependency connected European procurement cycles," Meghan Welch, managing manager astatine Brown Gibbons Lang & Company told CNBC.

European primes are besides progressively competing with an emerging people of defence tech startups successful the region.

German AI drone startup Helsing raised 600 cardinal euros and doubled its valuation to 12 cardinal euros successful June, the Financial Times reported. Quantum Systems, which besides develops autonomous defence tech, announced Friday it has tripled its valuation to supra 3 cardinal euros aft a 180 cardinal euro raise.