Leonardo aims to build NATO’s electronic warfare backbone

At DSEI 2025, Leonardo positioned itself as the company underpinning NATO’s return to serious electronic warfare mass.

The firm used the London exhibition to confirm BriteCloud’s adoption under the US ALQ-260 designation, to highlight BriteStorm as the RAF’s first autonomous stand-in jamming payload, and to present Typhoon’s ECRS Mk2 radar and EuroDASS upgrades as the foundation of a future European electronic attack force.

The briefing brought journalists through each element in turn: BriteCloud expendable decoys already cleared for US use, BriteStorm payloads entering RAF service on autonomous collaborative platforms, and Typhoon’s new radar and defensive suite positioned not just as upgrades but as a NATO-level capability set. The thread was clear enough. Leonardo wants its UK-built systems to be seen not as isolated products, but as the backbone of an integrated combat air architecture that allies can adopt at scale.

The intent was to show a layered, software-defined, exportable system that allies can standardise on.

Michael Lea, Vice President of Sales in Leonardo Electronics UK’s EW business told reporters: “The US made announcements in December that they intended to purchase a number of active expendable decoys under the designation ALQ-260. We’re now in a happy position where we can confirm that ALQ-260 is indeed BriteCloud, in the 2:1:8 format.”

The 218 variant adapts the original 55-mm cylindrical decoy into a smaller “brick” format measuring 2×1×8 inches. It is designed to fit square-format flare and chaff dispensers common on US platforms such as the F-15 and F-16. Lea confirmed that rounds have already been dispensed to the user, with the US Air National Guard having issued a positive fielding recommendation following comparative tests on F-16s.

In practical terms, that news does three things. It ties BriteCloud to a US-led standard. It creates peer pressure for other F-35 operators. It anchors Leonardo’s wider NATO pitch in a programme that has already crossed a high bar. “We should have a fleet wide Nato embodiment of BriteCloud onto F-35… after the US went public, we had a range of inquiries come in,” Lea added.

The company then foregrounded the breadth of integration and a growth path. Lea said the 2:1:8 round “works well on the ALE-47 dispenser fitted to F-35,” is being integrated on F-18, has been ejected and assessed from F-16 with “a very positive fielding recommendation,” and is aligned to Typhoon dispenser formats. He added that the higher power cylindrical “55T” is in trials with “significant interest in the US,” and that they “will probably have our first operational, customised frontline-deployed 55T capability during 2026.”

The 55-T is a more powerful version of the 55-mm cylindrical decoy, developed for larger aircraft such as transports and special mission platforms that present a bigger radar cross-section. It retains the same 55-mm form factor for dispensing but offers higher emission power to ensure the decoy produces a sufficiently large false target signature. The 55-T has also been upgraded to meet NATO standards for self-protection systems, allowing communication with smart dispensers and supporting automated logistics tracking.

The technical point about active expendables was kept simple and accurate: generating sustained radiated power from a small form factor is the constraint set, so format and battery budget drive both power and emission time.

BriteStorm was positioned as the RAF’s entry into collaborative autonomy with a stand-in jamming role. Lea referenced the Prime Minister’s visit to Luton to mark its launch and said, “BriteStorm has been proven on trials by the RAF, integrated with coalition combat air assets to provide an effective stand-in jamming capability that can protect a force package,” adding that deliveries over the next year should enable an RAF final operating capability in the same period. The RAF’s ACP platform carrying BriteStorm is StormShroud, a TEKEVER AR3 that has already been flown with coalition assets.

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The payload is “by its very nature mission-data and software-demand,” which allows new functions to be fielded rapidly and data-linked at force level. Beyond jamming, BriteStorm can be used to stimulate enemy air defences, obscure radar returns and create confusion in an adversary’s picture of the battlespace.

On autonomy, the language was careful and consistent. “There needs to be a clever, smart computer somewhere that makes a decision to switch a function because the function that is required is a higher priority than the one currently being performed,” Lea said. Asked whether that requires human approval, he replied that a fourth or fifth generation operator will task an autonomous collaborative platform and “that platform will have to make autonomous decisions.”

The roadmap is to integrate such capabilities with Typhoon and F-35 operations, with interest from the UK, Europe and the United States.

Leonardo also worked to recast Typhoon’s future role with ECRS Mk2 and EuroDASS. Lea said, “Don’t underestimate the role of the primary sensor on something like Typhoon… without doubt that is going to be the highest-capability European electronic warfare, electronic attack system available, and it is complementary to F-35.”

Tom Nash, who leads Typhoon radar campaigns, turned that into an operational argument. “It is a step change in technology and thinking for how Typhoon is operated. It doesn’t just become an air dominance fighter. It becomes a key part within your electronic warfare order of battle,” he said. He located this in the NATO context by noting the decline of dedicated electronic attack after Tornado and ALARM, and Germany’s ECR retirements. The message is simple. If NATO needs to restore electronic attack at scale, Typhoon with ECRS Mk2 and an evolved DASS gives the UK and partners a credible path.

Mark Randall, Campaign Manager for Electronic Warfare, set the industrial frame around DASS. “Leonardo, Indra, ELT Group and Hensoldt have been working as a European coalition to deliver sophisticated ECM and ESM capability since the beginning of Typhoon’s life,” he said.

The consortium is delivering incremental upgrades to match ECRS Mk2 employment while “making sure that you’ve got an effective strike package or an EA package,” and protecting the aircraft from opposing effects. Randall added that with Typhoon potentially serving to 2060 and beyond, the next-generation DASS concepts are being shaped as software-defined systems with modern LRUs to support continual enhancement rather than wholesale replacement.

Interoperability and layering ran through the entire briefing. BriteCloud as the active expendable, BriteStorm as the stand-in jamming payload on autonomous collaborative platforms, and ECRS Mk2 with EuroDASS on Typhoon were consistently presented as parts of a single architecture. Lea summed up the intended end state. “As a sensor suite, Typhoon becomes something hugely capable. You then match that with some of the things we’ve seen around BriteStorm… Typhoon is now not necessarily just doing combat air patrol. It’s right at the heart of that day one war.”

When asked about employment with chaff, Lea sensibly kept it generic: “A combination of manoeuvre, traditional chaff and an active expendable decoy is a highly potent way of defeating a threat,” and specific tactics remain with operators. On Typhoon clearances, he acknowledged Eurofighter pace and noted a national clearance pathway with BAE Systems, with information available to other operators.

Leonardo’s presence at DSEI showed momentum on several fronts. Confirmation that BriteCloud now carries the US ALQ-260 designation provided a seal of legitimacy. Integration across F-35, F-18, F-16 and Typhoon underlined the export pathways. And the Prime Minister’s visit to Luton earlier this year gave the programme a layer of political backing as well as technical ambition.

Typhoon’s role was reframed around ECRS Mk2 and EuroDASS, pitched as a direct response to NATO’s electronic attack gap. Autonomy was handled through the language of “cognitive EW,” pushing human tasking while allowing functions to shift dynamically. All of this was presented not as isolated products but as a system that allies could adopt and expand through software and mission data.

Stockpiles and surge production need government investment, however. If allies agree with Leonardo’s diagnosis of the electromagnetic fight, the company wants them to back a UK-based industrial solution that claims to be ready now, scalable soon, and upgradeable across Typhoon’s life.

What emerges here is a credible option for NATO’s path back to serious electronic warfare mass. Leonardo is arguing that the backbone of that effort can be built in Britain, with systems already in US service, tested on allied fighters, and anchored in sovereign radar and DASS upgrades.

The play is bold, but it is also timely. With NATO still grappling with the loss of dedicated electronic attack after Tornado, and with stockpiles of precision weapons running down under the pressure of Ukraine, the question is no longer whether partners should invest in electronic warfare at scale, but who will provide it. At DSEI, Leonardo set out its case that the answer to giving NATO back its electronic warfare backbone is already on the table.