Leonardo (Rome, Italy) has formed a partnership with advanced materials scale-up Uplift360 (Luxembourg and Bristol, U.K.) to accelerate the reuse of military-grade composite materials across defense.

The collaboration will bring together Leonardo’s expertise in defense platforms, certification, testing and regulatory engagement with Uplift360’s specialist composite recycling technologies. The partnership aims to establish a circular, U.K.-based supply of carbon fiber derived from production streams and end-of-life (EOL) defense assets. Leonardo will actively work with Uplift360 to support the accreditation of regenerated composites and their incorporation into the supply chain of its’ U.K. businesses.

Source | Leonardo

This collaboration directly supports the U.K.’s Strategic Defence Review focus on strengthening supply chain resilience, reducing the strategic risk around the sovereign supply chain of new materials by efficiently generating new and novel sources of materials from waste and scraps.

Circularity is a key component of the Leonardo strategy as depicted in the Transition Plan. The company pursues supply chain resilience by securing the supply of critical raw materials through recycling of production residual and EOL materials. It also actively fosters and supports the engagement in circular value chain of:

• Supply chain partners like waste management and material producers’ companies including SMEs to create a resilient ecosystem.
• Customers for the circular management of EOL parts and systems as a form of Extended Producer Responsibility.

The partnership with Uplift360 forms part of Leonardo’s U.K.-based SME Collaboration Partner Program, which aims to address longstanding barriers that prevent innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises from scaling new technologies into operational defense capability. Through the program, Leonardo works with SME partners to accelerate the qualification of the material for aerospace, defense and security (AD&S) applications, product development, qualification activity and customer adoption.

It also follows Leonardo’s collaboration with Uplift360 announced in October 2025, where the partners successfully recycling an EOL Leonardo rotor blade material into a structural drone arm, a project initiated by the Leonardo Helicopters Technology and Innovation Team in Yeovil.

Uplift360 itself plans to scale its technology and operational capability in 2026, with the launch of a pilot facility capable of producing up to 7 tonnes of recycled carbon fiber throughput per year. This investment represents a critical step toward industrial-scale volumes and future qualification of these materials for defense and aerospace use.