Credit: Leonardo S.p.A. and subsidiaries On Thursday, Italian defense giant, Leonardo S.p.A., unmasked its AI battlefield protective system, the Michelangelo Dome shield that autonomously detects, classifies, and neutralizes drone swarms and other aerial threats,
The Michelangelo Dome launch took place in Italy during an evening defense event, to demonstrate Europe’s move toward AI as a main command layer in modern warfare.
The Michelangelo Dome behaves as a single digital brain that fuses sensors, directs countermeasures, and learns from constant streams of data. The system’s approach is already changing how governments think about the future of AI-anti drone system technology.
“Michelangelo Dome is not a single system, but a complete architecture integrating next-generation land, naval, airborne and space sensors, cyber-defence platforms, command-and-control systems, artificial intelligence and coordinated effectors,” said the defense giant in a blog post.
Intelligent Shield Center
Following the announcement, Leonardo shares rose slightly, as part of a surge in European defense stocks.
The Michelangelo Dome is built on an open, flexible design, so its AI can plug into any nation’s existing systems for faster decisions generation that humans cannot do. It’s an advanced machine learning threat detection system that recognizes patterns and predicts attacks.
“In a world where threats evolve rapidly and become ever more complex – and where defending is costlier than attacking, defense must innovate, anticipate and embrace international cooperation,” CEO Roberto Cingolani said.
Leonardo hopes the entire project will be ready by the end of the year. According to analysts, this fits into Europe’s new long-term defense AI strategy, which is focused heavily on integrated networks rather than individual weapons.
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said Europe still lacks strong data sharing standards, calling them “still quite limited,” and warned it may take a decade to build a fully connected digital battlefield. That connectivity is crucial as the military shift toward autonomous defense systems built around real time AI coordination.
On the other hand, Morningstar analyst Loredana Muharremi said the industry is moving from hardware to networks, where “modern warfare is won by the network that can integrate every platform into one decision cycle.”
Guarding Grids
Recent intrusions into US water plants and energy systems show just how vulnerable infrastructure has become. These incidents have pushed governments to use AI-based anti-drone system tools, which can monitor wide areas and track both digital and physical threats.
According to experts, small and often unnoticed sites are the preferred targets, including substations and access roads. This is why most countries are looking for Leonardo AI alternative defense methods.
They want to create layers of sensor-driven protection around every link of the grid.
AI systems can keep a lookout for suspicious movement, unusual vehicles, or low-flying drones. As AI in defense systems gets more rapid, militaries depend on machine speed alerts that a human would miss.
Leonardo’s design shows how central this approach has become: the Michelangelo Dome functions less as a single weapon and more as a coordinating AI hub paired with tools like AI-powered anti drone system features and radar fusion engines.
It is indicative of a global trend toward the use of AI tech defense systems. Pairing predictive analytics and autonomous tracking and, in some cases, AI high-energy laser weapons technologies for rapid response.
Defense planners describe the move as marking the beginning of next-generation shield systems capable of countering immediate multiple threats.
Additionally, Leonardo presented its US branch, Leonardo DRS Michelangelo Dome, as part of the broader international development effort.
Because hypersonic missiles and groups of drones are only getting more sophisticated, Europe views AI less as an add-on than as the new command layer that needs to be at the center of all modern defense.
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