{
  "id": 14701157,
  "title": "Prototype warfare: A defence prime’s playbook for turning technology into battlefield capability",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/prototype-warfare-a-defence-primes-playbook-for-turning-technology",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-15T13:17:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Tech.eu",
    "slug": "tech-eu",
    "url": "https://tech.eu/2026/10/15/prototype-warfare-a-defence-prime-s-playbook-for-turning-technology-into-battlefield-capability/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the world of defence technology, startups play a vital role in driving innovation, but they are far from the only actors. Established defence primes like Leonardo have the resources and expertise to quickly develop cutting-edge technology and can serve as customers, partners, investors, and bridges between emerging technology and large-scale deployment. These primes operate on a vastly different scale, speed, and level of scrutiny compared to startups. Leonardo, employing over 62,000 people, boasts impressive revenues and order backlogs in the aerospace, defence, and security sectors. Their activities range from manufacturing helicopters to cybersecurity and protecting critical infrastructure. To understand how a defence prime like Leonardo turns technology into battlefield capability, I spoke to Prof. Simon Harwood, UK Capability Development Director for Leonardo. Harwood's career spans government, industry, and academia, giving him a unique perspective on the company's approach to innovation.\n\nInnovation in defence primes like Leonardo is not limited to startups. While many emerging technologies can be rapidly tested and abandoned, defence systems must meet stringent certification, safety, and repeatability standards. Harwood emphasizes that innovation happens both within SMEs and at scale inside defence primes. Leonardo invests over £500 million annually in UK research and development, focusing on combining the ingenuity of startups with the scale and resources of the primes. This approach includes strategic collaborations, partnerships, and acquisitions, rather than traditional mergers and acquisitions.\n\nOne significant aspect of Leonardo's strategy is providing SMEs with consistency and stability in funding, access to demand signals, and exclusive facilities such as anechoic chambers, test and evaluation labs, classified computing, and security clearances. These resources are often inaccessible to small companies and enable them to develop advanced technologies. Additionally, Leonardo acts as a conduit for investors, validating technologies that investors may struggle to assess independently.\n\nBeyond its own walls, Leonardo actively commercializes its defence technologies, identifying untapped intellectual property (IP) within the company and exploring licensing or spin-off opportunities. The partnership with Ploughshare, the MoD's commercialization partner, aims to find commercial applications for Leonardo UK's technologies in areas like sensing, communications, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, and advanced materials.",
  "summary": "At Tech.eu, I spend a lot of time talking to startups in sectors such as defencetech and spacetech. But startups are only one part of the innovation ecosystem. For founders, understanding how the defe...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}