€400 million in industrial cooperation.
Implementation at an early stage.

Austria is purchasing twelve M-346FA fighter jets from Italy’s Leonardo for around €1.6 billion. The purchase contract was signed on 29 November 2025. In parallel, the Ministry of Economy concluded an agreement on industrial cooperation worth €400 million – roughly a quarter of the contract value. Cooperation is envisaged in aeronautical engineering, the supply industry, digitalisation and security-related research, for instance in materials technology, simulation and sensor technology.

The agreement runs for 15 years; €300 million is to take effect in Austria during the first decade. According to the Ministry of Economy, implementation is at an early stage. Specific projects are to be identified by 2027, with Leonardo responsible for selecting the contracts. A mechanism for measuring and crediting the cooperation projects is currently being developed.

In early July 2026, the Austrian Economic Chambers and the Ministry of Economy invited around 150 Austrian companies to an information event in Vienna. The focus was on the process through which businesses can register as potential suppliers and partners. The cooperation agreement itself has not been made public: under the Freedom of Information Act, which entered into force in September 2025, the magazine profil and the Forum Informationsfreiheit requested its disclosure. The ministries responsible refused, citing national security. The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal at the end of March 2026; the applicants announced that they would appeal further.

In mid-July 2026, the parliamentary opposition stepped up public pressure, calling for full disclosure of the agreements and of the actual state of implementation. The ministries responsible maintained their position; no new verifiable information on specific contracts was published.