Italy’s TB3 drone deal signals turn toward Turkey amid US-NATO tensions
Italy’s expected TB3 drone purchase highlights a rapidly deepening, interest-driven alignment with Turkey on defense and geopolitics.
ANKARA — Italy’s expected move to acquire Turkey’s TB3 naval drones is less about hardware than about strategy — signaling a quiet recalibration that places Ankara closer to the center of Europe’s evolving security architecture.
Rome is expected to formally approve the procurement of Bayraktar TB3 drones within months, Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar told Breaking Defense in an interview published April 17. The company manufactures the drones, and Italy could become their first European operator.
Italian Navy Chief Vice Adm. Berutti Bergotto, who has since left the post, said in March that Italy plans to acquire an unspecified number of the carrier-capable systems. Designed for takeoff and landing on short-deck carriers, the TB3 is expected to be deployed aboard the aircraft carrier Cavour.
The Bayraktar TB3 is a carrier-capable unmanned combat aerial vehicle developed by Baykar, Turkey’s drone manufacturing giant owned by the family of Selcuk Bayraktar, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s younger son-in-law. It features foldable wings and a reinforced landing gear, enabling takeoff and recovery on short-deck aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. The system is designed for intelligence, surveillance and strike missions, extending naval reach without relying on manned aircraft.
TB3’s debut in Europe
While many European countries operate the Baykar TB2, including European Union countries Croatia, Poland and Romania, Italy’s acquisition of the newer model TB3 would be a first in Europe.
For Turkey, a TB3 deal with Italy would open another pathway into Western Europe as Ankara seeks to expand markets for its defense products.
Italy, in turn, is looking to boost its drone production capacity as part of a broader effort to modernize its surveillance and expeditionary capabilities, particularly in the Mediterranean, where it faces mounting migration-related pressures.
Analysts view the deal as a largely transactional alignment of interests between the two countries. Cigdem Ustun, secretary-general of the Istanbul-based think tank Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, said it also reflects Turkey’s broader emergence as a key defense actor in Europe, rather than being a purely bilateral development.
The deal “should be considered within the context of Turkey’s role in European security, not just Turkey-Italy relations,” she told Al-Monitor. “Within a few years, be it the Baykar-Leonardo joint venture or co-production and sales with Poland and Romania, Turkey has taken an important role in Europe’s defense. The new TB3 deal reflects that.”
Turkey has emerged as a fast, cost-effective supplier of combat-proven drone systems to Europe. Its share of global arms exports doubled to 1.8% in 2021-2025, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as European arms imports more than tripled over the same period.
The expected procurement of TB3s by Italy caps a year of rapid momentum in Turkey-Italy defense ties, driven primarily by industrial cooperation. In 2025, Leonardo and Baykar agreed to establish a joint venture focused on unmanned aerial systems, targeting both European demand and broader export markets.
Their joint venture, LBA Systems, has already been developing and preparing to manufacture multiple UAV platforms in Italy since its formal establishment in June 2025, combining Turkish airframes with Italian sensors, certification and systems integration.
Strategic convergence
Rome and Ankara’s alignment is increasingly driven by overlapping geopolitical priorities in the Mediterranean. In Libya, Italy is focused on protecting energy assets — particularly those of Italian energy giant Eni — and curbing migration flows, while Turkey is seeking to preserve its military foothold and broader influence in the country.
“What is changing now is the strategic self-awareness on both sides: Turkey is consolidating its position as an indispensable defense partner for European states that cannot wait for EU-level solutions, and Italy is positioning itself as the primary European interlocutor for that relationship," Riccardo Gasco, foreign policy coordinator at Istanbul-based think tank IstanPol Institute, told Al-Monitor.
More broadly, analysts say the partnership reflects a wider push among European states to diversify defense ties, both within Europe and with non-EU partners such as Turkey, amid growing uncertainty over long-term US security commitments following recent rhetoric and policy signaling from the Trump administration.
According to Daniele Santoro, coordinator for Turkey and the Turkic regions at the Italian geopolitics magazine Limes, Rome's push to deepen defense ties with Turkey has been shaped more by external pressures, including capability gaps, than by a clear strategic decision to embrace Ankara as a long-term partner within Italy’s defense architecture.
“Italy and Turkey are bound to grow closer. The problem is that Italy is not driving this convergence – it is adapting to it,” Santoro told Al-Monitor.
Turkey, in turn, has increasingly sought to position itself as a strategic defense partner for Europe, arguing that its military capabilities and geographic reach make it indispensable to any future European security framework.
Joint front on Israel?
Italy-Turkey foreign policy alignment saw further convergence this week after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni voiced sharper criticism of Israel’s conduct in Lebanon.
On Apr. 14, Italy announced it was suspending its 2003 defense cooperation agreement with Israel. While Rome stopped short of citing a specific reason for the suspension, the decision came after Israeli troops fired warning shots at an Italian UNIFIL convoy in southern Lebanon on April 8, damaging a vehicle and causing no injuries but prompting Rome to publicly reprimand Israel. The suspension leaves the agreement legally intact but effectively freezes it, halting all bilateral defense activities unless it is reactivated.
Experts caution, however, against overstating the apparent convergence between Turkey and Italy on Israeli policy. While Rome’s move signals a sharper tone toward Israel, it remains far from Ankara’s position. Turkey is the only NATO member that does not designate Hamas as a terrorist organization, and senior figures from the group’s political leadership operate and live in Turkey and Qatar. Italy, by contrast, continues to classify Hamas as a terrorist actor. Its criticism of Israel has been more narrowly focused — centered on civilian casualties in Gaza, tensions in Lebanon and domestic political pressures — rather than reflecting any broader strategic realignment toward Turkey’s stance on the conflict.
A March 2026 survey by SWG, an Italian polling and research firm, found that more than 60% of respondents view Israel’s actions in Gaza negatively.
According to Santoro, Meloni’s move to suspend cooperation with Israel and her criticism of Trump are “largely symbolic,” aiming to distance herself from unpopular allies.
