Leonardo has formed a partnership with advanced materials scale-up Uplift360 to accelerate the reuse of military-grade materials across defence.
The collaboration will bring together Leonardo’s expertise in defence platforms, certification, testing and regulatory engagement with Uplift360’s specialist composite recycling technologies. The partnership is aimed at establishing a circular, UK-based supply of carbon fibre derived from production streams and end-of-life defence assets.
Leonardo will actively work with Uplift360 to support the accreditation of regenerated composites and their incorporation into the supply chain of its’ UK businesses.
This collaboration directly supports the UK’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, and this partnership demonstrates through collaboration and innovation, that moving towards circular models can not only reduce environmental impacts, but also deliver resilience for businesses.
Leonardo pursues supply chain resilience by securing the supply of Critical Raw Materials through recycling of production residual and end-of-life 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 the end-of-life parts and systems as a form of Extended Producer Responsibility.
The partnership with Uplift360 forms part of Leonardo’s UK-based SME Collaboration Partner Programme, which aims to address long-standing barriers that prevent innovative small and medium-sized enterprises from scaling new technologies into operational defence capability. Through the programme, Leonardo works with SME partners to accelerate the qualification of the material for applications in Aerospace, Defence and Security (AD&S) products, the product development, qualification activity and customer adoption.
It follows Leonardo’s collaboration with Uplift360, successfully recycling an end-of-life Leonardo rotor blade material into a structural drone arm, a project initiated by the Leonardo Helicopters Technology and Innovation Team in Yeovil.
The project demonstrated the technical feasibility of repurposing complex aerospace End of Life composites into high-value defence applications, adopting an innovative low energy and low environmental impact recycling process.
Uplift360 plans to scale its technology and operational capability in 2026, with the launch of a pilot facility capable of producing up to three tonnes of recycled carbon fibre throughput per year. This investment represents a critical step towards industrial-scale volumes and future qualification of these materials for defence and aerospace use.
Professor Simon Harwood, UK Capability Director, Leonardo, said:
“Our goal is to move beyond traditional end-of-life disposal models and create a genuinely circular approach to defence manufacturing. By combining Leonardo’s platform expertise and assurance capability with Uplift360’s innovative recycling technology, we can reduce environmental impact, lower lifecycle costs and strengthen the UK’s sovereign access to critical materials.”
Sam Staincliffe, Chief Executive Officer, Uplift360, said:
“This partnership demonstrates how advanced recycling technology can deliver both environmental and national resilience benefits. Together with Leonardo UK, we are working to transform end-of-life defence assets into high-performance materials that can be reused across future platforms, supporting a more sustainable and secure UK defence ecosystem.”
Background
The partnership addresses a growing challenge facing the UK defence industry – the high cost, security of supply and environmental impact associated with advanced materials such as resilient and efficient supply chains, as well as their storage and disposal. Today, much of this equipment is incinerated, resulting in the loss of valuable materials. At the same time, the UK faces increasing strategic risk around the sovereign supply of critical raw materials and critical products such as carbon fibre and rare earth elements, particularly in times of geopolitical uncertainty.