There is an Italian angle to Turkey’s defence industry growth story.
Magnaghi Aeronautica (MAGroup), Italian manufacturer of landing gears and hydraulic components, is an integral part of two of Turkey’s most important military programs – Hurjet, the supersonic advanced trainer and light combat aircraft under development by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Kaan, the Turkish fighter jet that TAI is developing along with BAE Systems. While Kaan is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2026, the Hurjet prototype completed a successful flight in April this year.
Besides TAI, both jets have one thing in common – integrated landing gear systems developed by MAGroup. With Turkey’s defence industry might catching the world’s attention and both Hurjet and Kaan generating considerable buzz in military circles, the country is shaping up to be a crucial market for the Group that has grown its global presence considerably in recent years.
Partnering for Success
The Group’s collaboration agreement with Turkish company TAAC Aerospace allows it to fulfill Turkish offset requirements for the Hurjet landing gears program. With Hurjet’s successful first flight, the Group has taken the next step to expand its Turkish footprint. At the recent Paris Air Show, it signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with TAI and TAAC Aerospace for the second phase of the Hurjet program. The parties involved in the project will move toward further testing, development work and production.
“This is a long-term agreement that will consolidate MA Group’s relationship with our Turkish partners and further strengthen our presence in Turkey,” says Paolo Graziano, MA Group Founder & CEO. “This is a very important project. We strive to offer our considerable capabilities to any project that we are involved in, and to constantly develop our skills anticipating market demands and needs.”
Hurjet and Kaan are not the only programs that the Group is associated with in Turkey. The T-129 multi-role attack helicopter, which was designed and manufactured jointly by TAI and Italy-based AgustaWestland to meet the requirements of Turkish Armed Forces, has wheeled landing gear made by the Group.
Winning Strategy
The Italian mid-size company has consistently managed to punch above its weight and beat competition from bigger companies. According to Pietro Persico, Business Development and Innovation Technology at MA Group, flexibility and the focus on innovation are key reasons for the Group’s growth.
“There are few big global players that are Landing System integrators. We are different from them. We are a Group of small-size companies that are geographically present in several areas around the world and have full landing system integration capability. In addition to matching or surpassing the ability of the big players to develop and integrate a whole Landing System, MAGroup also offers customers the flexibility and agility advantage that only a small/medium company can provide.
“Our ability to tailor products according to the needs of our customers sets us apart. The Turkish landing systems projects we are developing is the perfect example of the Group implementing its strategy of offering customers flexibility, agility, competence, and ingenuity.”
Turkey has an important role to play in the Group’s overall plans, says Persico. “Our cooperation with TAI and TAAC on Hurjet and TF-X represented important numbers in 2022 and will be even more important this year. In the future, the Group expects to be a part of more Turkish military projects with fixed and rotary wings. Beyond the cooperation with TAI and TAAC on current programs, we are also finalizing a Joint Venture with TAAC for future landing systems development and the MRO activity necessary for the Turkish military fleet and for Turkish Aerospace products.”
Betting on Innovation
Among the standout features of the Group is the eagerness to introduce new technology. At the Paris Air Show, the company announced that it had signed a MoU with Roboze, a global leader in 3D printing technology for advanced super polymers and composites. Polymers 3D printing applications are traditionally used exclusively for interiors, but Roboze and Magnaghi are working together to use additive manufacturing to produce class 3 and 2 landing gear components. The two companies are also involved in standardizing the manufacturing and qualification approach of 3D printing technology.
The Group’s expansion in Turkey reflects the overall growth it has seen across regions in recent years. Over the last decade, it has expanded its global footprint considerably, staying true to the business model of having an industrial footprint close to its customers. According to Graziano, more growth is on the horizon.
“We have a clear idea about what the right size for the company is,” said Graziano in a 2022 interview. “We still have room to grow in our five-year plan. Once we have doubled our size, we will stop. We currently have about 1,000 employees and we expect the number to grow to about 2000. That is the right size for our market, for our niche.”
Soaring Reputation
The Group, which has so far produced over 20,000 landing gears for more than 7,000 small and large civil and military aircraft as well as helicopters, has earned the attention of all three major OEMs. In 2012, it became a key supplier of components for Embraer platforms by acquiring Brazilian firm Friuli Aerospace and setting up Magnaghi do Brazil. In April last year, it was selected to design and produce the fully integrated landing gear system for Sikorsky-Boeing’s Defiant X helicopter, which eventually lost out to Bell Textron’s Valor tiltrotor in the US Army’s Future long-range assault aircraft (FLRAA) competition.
The company is also part of the team developing Airbus Helicopters’ Racer high speed compound helicopter, as the technical and industrial leader of an international partnership, also involving other entities from Italy, Latvia, and Slovakia, which has developed and qualified the Racer landing system. Racer, which is capable of flying as fast as 400 km/h (216 knots), features two pusher propellers mounted to a fixed double wing and a five-bladed main rotor; the aircraft is expected to fly in the second half of 2023.
Another major win for the Group in recent months is its entry into the nascent Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector. In July last year, it was selected to develop, manufacture and qualify nose and main landing gears structures for the Lilium Jet, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) jet. Lilium recently announced that it had successfully completed the fourth and final Design Organization Approval audit by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), making it the only AAM player with both EASA and FAA certification basis for an eVTOL.
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