French firm Hynaero and defense/aerospace giant Leonardo will explore how they can collaborate on the development and production of a next-generation amphibious firefighting aircraft.
On October 23, 2026, Hynaero said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed with Leonardo to “define collaboration” over major aero structural components for the Fregate-F100 program.
The Fregate-F100 is designed to carry a 10-ton water-payload and help secure European and French sovereignty over aerial forest firefighting capabilities.
The aircraft is intended to perform its first test flight in 2030 and launch the following year, according to Hynaero’s website.
In a statement, Hynaero said that under the MoU, the Fregate-F100 program will “benefit from the companies’ combined expertise and capabilities across multiple potential areas”.
“These could include aircraft aerostructure design-build, testing-validation, engineering, certification, testing, industrialization, maintainability, system design and build, supporting promotion in Italy as well as export opportunities,” a Hynaero spokesperson explained.
Hynaero highlighted Leonardo’s position as a leading supplier in the production of main structures such as the fuselage and wings and expertise in aerial emergency response and the firefighting sector.
Supported by a range of institutional and industry partners in Europe, the Fregate-F100 concept validation was carried out in 2025.
Other key features include a 250 knots cruising speed, more than four hours of firefighting autonomy at a distance of 250 km from its’ home base, a ferry range of up to 2,500 km, fly-by-wire controls, head-up display and predictive maintenance.
In March 2026, the European Commission said: “Over the coming years, it will be important to maintain the current level of ambition under the rescEU transition until the whole of the rescEU fleet is operational. This should be accompanied by the possibility of procuring additional aircraft (including helicopters) in the coming years.”