Good evening. This is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Leonardo First Half 2022 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Miss Valeria Ricciotti, Head of Investor Relations and Credit Rating Agencies. Please go ahead, madam.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our First Half 2022 Results Conference Call. I'm Valeria Ricciotti, Head of Investor Relations and Credit Rating Agencies. Today, our CEO, Alessandro Profumo, and our CFO, Alessandra Genco, will take you through our progress during the first half of this year, the first half financial results, and the outlook for the full year 2022. We will then welcome your questions. I will now hand you over to our CEO.
Thanks, Valeria, and good evening, everybody, and thank you for taking the time to join us today. Let's start with the key points about our second quarter and first half results and our recent very positive progress. First of all, we have delivered a good performance in the first half. We have built further on our good start of the year. Importantly, we are achieving very good commercial momentum across the group, driving very good growth in new order intake. Our strong commercial machine is successfully capturing good opportunities worldwide. We are demonstrating strength in both domestic and international markets. We are delivering on our solid backlog, driving growth and a solid performance across all our businesses. We are also delivering on our target of stepping up cash flow generation, and we are on track for our full-year target.
At the same time, we have been making important strategic moves to position best for today and tomorrow's defense map. Let me give you the highlights of our first half results, and Alessandra will give you more detail in a moment of both the results and the performances across the businesses. You can see a very strong first half commercial performance. New order intake of EUR 7.3 billion, up 9.4% year-on-year, with growth in all sectors, both domestic and international, and very importantly, with no jumbo orders. We are also carrying this commercial momentum into the second half, winning the significant Polish order of 32 AW149 multi-role helicopters with a gross value of EUR 1.776 billion.
You saw the announcement made by the UK MOD on the planned upgrading of the A400, which we hope to sign later this year. We have delivered solid operational progress all across the group, with revenues up 3.6% to EUR 6.6 billion, EBITA at EUR 418 million, up 12% versus first half of 2021 restated, with a return on sales at 6.4% or 7.4% without passthrough, and even more importantly, return on invested capital at 10.5% versus 10.3% last year. Seeing in helicopters good progress on the civil side and defence and government sectors continuing a strong performance. Seeing a strong performance in aircraft, good performance across defense electronics, and DRS on track on its growth path.
We are seeing gradual recovery in aerial structure in line with the plan. We are also improving our financial profile, starting to step up cash generation as we said we would, with free operating cash flow at EUR -952 million in the first half and an improvement of over EUR 400 million on last year. We are also financially stronger, and we are especially pleased to see this recognized by rating agencies. In May, Standard & Poor's revised Leonardo's outlook to positive from stable based on recognition of improving credit metrics. In July, Moody's also has upgraded the outlook to positive from stable based on the company's strong execution through the pandemic, the favorable in-industry dynamics, and our improving credit metrics.
A good first half performance on track with our plans, and with this, we support the path to 2022 full year guidance, which is confirmed. As you heard in our recent ESG Investor Day, we have done all this having in mind our clear and important purpose, helping protect and providing security for people and nations, being a driver of development, technological innovation, security and progress, and keeping ESG and sustainability at the core of Leonardo's industrial plan, fully integrated in our operations, decision-making and culture, and drivers of our commercial and industrial goals. We are fully aware that our industrial future is driven by innovation, and in turn, our innovation is driven by sustainability.
For this, we are accelerating the research and development tech focus driven by digitalization, security and sustainability. You can see that we have made important progress in the past year on ESG. For example, reducing CO2 emission by 19% since 2019, making a big step towards our target of reducing emission by 40% by 2030. Improving energy efficiency with a 6% reduction in energy intensity compared to 2019. Focusing on diversity and inclusion over the last three years, women in managerial roles have increased from 16% to 18%. We have fully aligned our financial strategy and remuneration plan to our ESG strategy. We now have 50% of our total group funding sources linked to ESG, and 50% of investment aligned with SDGs.
We have linked our remuneration to ESG factors, including targets on climate change and diversity in the long term incentive plan. Looking forward, we have important ESG goals and ambitions. We are focused on significantly reducing our environmental impact further along our value chain, on increasing our positive social impact, and we are focused on maintaining the highest level of governance. At the same time, we have made some important strategic moves in recent months to position us best for today's and tomorrow's defense market, both in Europe and in the U.S. Early this year, we completed the acquisition of our stake in Hensoldt, building a stronger position in defense electronics, well-placed for the German market and European programs. In the U.S., we are fully delivering on promises. Leonardo DRS is continuing its growth on a stand-alone basis.
We have focused it further on its core business, so it can play even better to its strengths. With the sale of AEC, which just completed, and the sale of GES, which has received regulatory approvals and should complete shortly. We have reinforced DRS through the exciting combination with RADA, which also enables a listing in the U.S. market. Let me now emphasize some key points on the Leonardo DRS and RADA transaction. This is an important strategic move for us as we are strengthening our position in a very, very attractive market. The combination of Leonardo DRS and RADA is very well placed to be a leader in rapidly growing force protection market. This is a key part of both today's and tomorrow's defense market. We are creating opportunities in U.S. and internationally, leveraging Leonardo's global presence.
As promised, we have focused Leonardo DRS portfolio on its core strategic business, increasing exposure to a high growth and high margin market segments. The transaction structure also will unlock value for shareholders and enables us to deliver on our promise to achieve a listing of Leonardo DRS. I also want to provide additional color on the strategic rationale of the transaction. The combination of Leonardo DRS and RADA will increase the addressable market with a strong fit on diversity program. There are very complementary technologies in the force protection market. We will have a stronger position in U.S. market and additionally, international expansion opportunities, leveraging Leonardo's global presence. We have strong balance sheet, providing flexibility and exciting value creation opportunity. In the wider Leonardo group, RADA will add a complementary tactical radar portfolio, will enhance our market positioning in the tactical operational environment, enabling an integrated approach.
RADA products will allow Leonardo to bring innovative, integrated solutions to the market, adding Israel, a technology leader and advanced defense customer, as a new domestic market. We will support RADA's organic expansion, accessing new export markets and the new programs. Even more importantly, the merger of RADA and DRS provides additional significant opportunities by combining the advanced sensing capabilities of DRS with the tactical radar provided by RADA, which are upside and on top of the baseline case. To summarize, before I hand over to Alessandra Genco, we are pleased with our good first half performance, especially the strong commercial machine capturing opportunities internationally, plus delivering well on our backlog and improving our financial profile.
We are on track for our full year targets, notwithstanding challenges linked to the supply chain environment and the highly competitive skilled labor market that we are starting to experience. We have confidence, too, in our medium-term growth plan and goal of long-term sustainable growth. We are also beginning to see exciting future opportunities beyond 2022-2023, including new defense governmental opportunities as markets respond to recent events. Thank you. Now I will hand over to Alessandra.
Thanks, Alessandro. Let me take you through the first half results in more detail and the performance by business. As Alessandro said, we have delivered a good first half performance across the group, and we're carrying this momentum into the second half. Looking at the first half results highlighted, you can see a backlog at EUR 36.4 billion. Orders at EUR 7.3 billion, up 9.4% with a 1.1 book-to-bill ratio, building further on our backlog. Revenues of EUR 6.6 billion, up 3.6%, and EBITDA at EUR 418 million, up 12% year-over-year, restating 2021 for the impact of COVID costs. Free operating cash flow was -EUR 962 million, with an improvement of over EUR 400 million.
A very strong commercial performance, with group delivering, as we said, on plan and with strong performances across all defense and governmental businesses, gradually seeing a recovery in civil in line with expectations. We're stepping up cash flow, both increasing quality and reducing seasonality, the evidence of a stronger, more disciplined operating performance, and on track at the half year stage for full year guidance. Let's look at the performance now across the group on key metrics, starting with new order intake. We have a strong commercial machine demonstrating its strength in both domestic and international markets, with good performances all across the group and no jumbo orders, achieving a good book-to-bill solidly above one, and defense and governmental businesses performing very strongly. Order intake was strong and grew across the group. Helicopters increased to EUR 2.2 billion, up 8.7%.
We saw an increase in orders on the civil side as well as on customer support, and also a range of domestic and international orders, including the first order booked for the AW609 tiltrotor. We also booked an order for the AW189 for the Rescue and Salvage Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, an order for five AW119Kx for Israel, and a good momentum for the AW139 commercial segment. Defense electronics orders total EUR 3.8 billion, up 5%. On the European side, higher orders in defense systems helped drive new order intake to EUR 2.5 billion, including the order to supply naval guns and logistical support for German Navy frigates, and orders for combat systems for special operations and underwater rescue operations.
DRS increased new order intake to EUR 1.3 billion, up 9.8%, showing its strength and positioning on key DoD programs with further orders for its new generation of mounted computer systems for the U.S. Army Mission Command. Additional orders for the IM-SHORAD, the short-range defense packages, which allow the neutralization of low-altitude aerial threats, including drones. Aircraft delivered another very strong commercial performance with new orders of EUR 1.5 billion, up 20.6%, including the major Spanish order for 20 Eurofighters, the C-27J order from Slovenia, and the first baseline order for Eurodrone, and further orders for the JSF and logistics support for IFTS. Finally, Aerostructures orders were EUR 158 million, up 18.8%, benefiting from increased orders from Airbus, especially for the A220 program. Moving on to revenues.
At group levels, they were EUR 6.6 billion the first half, overall up 3.6%. A solid top-line performance delivering on our backlog and on track with our plan. We saw a strong performance in helicopters, EUR 2.1 billion in the first half, up 11.6%, delivering on the NH90 Qatar contract and the AW169. Defense electronics also delivered a solid performance. In electronics Europe, the division grew revenues driven by defense systems, up 4.4% on a like-for-like basis, given the reclassification of the automation business in other activities. In the U.S., DRS first half revenues were EUR 1.1 billion, and here we saw some impact from delays to deliveries caused by supply chain pressures and COVID. This was offset by a positive foreign exchange impact, leading to a positive growth in revenues translated in euros of 2%.
Aircraft delivered a solid performance, EUR 1.3 billion, up 2.2% due to C-27J and also increasing logistics activities on the Eurofighter and delivering on major contracts with two additional aircraft delivered to Kuwait. Aerostructures' first half revenues were weaker as expected, EUR 234 million, down from EUR 254 million last year, with production rates plan to be increasing in the second half in line with customers' demands. Solid group performance on revenues confirming our growth path. Moving to profitability and EBITA, we also delivered very good overall performance here. With group EBITA at EUR 480 million, up 12% versus first half 2021 restated. An improved profitability in the first half with return on sales of 6.4% or 7.4% without passthrough.
This is on the back of improving performances in all main divisions. A solid performance in the first half, and we have effectively managed inflation and supply chain pressures in an operating context that remains complex. Helicopters achieve EBITA of EUR 151 million, up 2% in line with plan, adjusting for pass-through volumes. Defense electronics delivered a strong profit performance with growth in all the main European business areas, and in particular defense systems. In Europe, driving EBITA to EUR 210 million, up 4.5%, and increasing profitability to return on sales in the first half of 10%. In the U.S., DRS achieved EBITA of EUR 104 million, and group profitability to return on sales of 9.2%, confirming its steadily improving margins as its programs transition from development to production phase.
Aircraft EBITA was EUR 152 million, in line with plan and up 1.3%, showing continued progress on milestone delivery and confirming strong profitability. On the civil side, Aerostructures losses increased slightly to EUR 88 million as expected, compared to EUR 82 million in the same period last year. The recovery path is expected to be more second half-weighted. ATR improved its contribution to EBITA and was negative EUR 1 million compared to last year's negative EUR 21 million. ATR's improved financial performance was helped by the efficiency plan and the signing of a customer settlement. Deliveries by the consortium amounted to six aircraft in line with last year. The first half contribution from the space joint ventures was down EUR 20 million to EUR 3 million.
While Thales Alenia Space was slightly higher as expected, Thales incurred a risk provision on a contract related to Russia, in addition to the unfavorable comparison base due to the one-off benefits related to tax regulation changes accounted for last year. This was the main driver for the first half lower contribution. Overall, a good first half performance across the group. Very strong commercial performance, driving new order intake and solid and growing revenues and EBITA. This also translated into a better below-the-line performance. You can see an EBIT of EUR 362 million, up 4.3%. In the first half 2022, there were EUR 43 million of non-recurring costs, of which 33 were due to write-off of assets related to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We had EUR 2 million of restructuring costs and PPA in line with last year.
Financial charges and taxes had a strong decrease year-over-year, with financial charges at EUR 47 million versus EUR 88 million last year, mainly driven by lower interest expense, also related to reimbursement of higher interest debt and the effect of the application of the IFRS nine. Taxes were EUR 48 million versus EUR 82 million last year, all giving an improved net result of positive EUR 267 million. Now moving on to cash flow. We're delivering improving cash generation, as we said. In the first half, pre-operating cash flow was negative EUR 962 million, with an improvement of more than EUR 400 million year-over-year. This is evidence of a stronger, more disciplined operating performance and a strong focus that our entire organization has developed on cash. Our organic cash flow machine is getting stronger and shows a better quality, as expected, with reduced seasonality.
Our defense governmental business cash flow is getting stronger, and as you well know, this is a key priority for us. It has been a key priority and remains a key priority for us. I want now to cover our outlook for the full year 2022. You can see that we have delivered a good performance in the first half, building further on our good start to the year. We are achieving very good commercial momentum across the group, and our book-to-bill is solidly above one. We have carried this momentum into the second half, and we are on track with our growth path in revenues and EBITDA. As you have also seen, we have been stepping up our cash flow in line with plan, strengthening our organic cash generation and showing a better quality.
At the same time, we have been facing, and we will continue to face challenges, in particular linked to the complex supply chain environment and the highly competitive skilled labor market that we're starting to experience. That said, we have remained on track and feel comfortable in reconfirming our full-year guidance across all metrics. New orders intake growth to around EUR 15 billion. Revenue growth to between EUR 14.5 billion to EUR 15 billion. EBITA growth to EUR 1.18 billion to EUR 1.22 billion. Stepping up free operating cash flow to EUR 500 million. In summary, good first half results, confirming our growth path, delivering strong commercial and operating and financial performance across the group, and on track for full year guidance. Plus important strategic moves accomplished. Thank you. Now we're pleased to take your questions.
Excuse me, this is the conference call operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Alessandro Pozzi, Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Have a couple of questions. The first one on helicopters. I think in terms of order intake, it looks like you had a very good quarter. I was wondering whether maybe it's an accumulation of contracts materializing in the quarters, or whether maybe there's a sign that there's actually a stronger recovery, especially in the civil side of that business. The second question is in the opening remarks, you mentioned the UK MOD contract for the upgrade in radars.
I was wondering whether there could be other opportunities within the UK potentially upgrading radars for older Eurofighters, or maybe within Europe, if you can maybe talk about the potential of upgrading the existing fleet of mechanically scanned radar across Europe as well. Thank you.
Many thanks for the questions. First, element, helicopters. Helicopters, effectively seeing a step up on the civil side in the sense that, the market is, better than expected across the board. Clearly, for instance, the AW189 for, the, search and rescues and emergency medical services, in, China are very important, AW189. So, we are seeing such kind of events. Also, the VIP market, is, rather positive. We don't see yet significant signals on oil and gas, but we have seen some movement also in this area. So, this is, something that we do see as an anticipation of what we are expecting, in, the next years, so is happening today.
On radar U.K., when we are talking of the radar UK for the Eurofighter, it is a development of a new radar. It is called Mk1, and the two is a German one. The reverse. So maybe Mk2 for U.K., Mk1 for Germany. In any case, we are developing this new radar. Clearly, when we are saying that, on the Eurofighter, we have two components. One is the aircraft platform, and the other one is the electronic side.
Saying that the electronic side is a sort of, we cannot say perpetuity, but is a very, very long-term business because we are sure that this aircraft will fly till the second half of this century and there will be a continuous update of electronics, the radar included. We are not seeing something else soon because clearly this is a development contract, and we are to complete the development contract. Then there will be the purchase, but it's another story. It's more related to the long-term evolution of the Eurofighter.
Okay. Thank you. Maybe if I can squeeze in another one on the tax side. I think as you mentioned, the first half tax rate was quite low. I was wondering if you can give us a guidance for the rest of the year.
Yes, Alessandro. The tax rate in the first half results reflected also the benefit from R&D credits across U.K. and Italy. The guidance for the full year remains unchanged around 25%.
All right. Thank you.
Sure.
The next question is from, Virginia Montorsi with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions. I had three, actually. The first one would be still back to the UK MOD and the Typhoon order. Would you be able to give us more or less an indication of how much of the over EUR 2 billion you think you're gonna benefit from? The second and third question would be on Germany, actually. My second question would be on German gas and the potential of German gas rationing. How exposed are you on that, and do you have any sort of plan that you can implement should the situation with gas deteriorate? The third question would be on the German budget. As we've seen, Germany has given a bit more clarity on the EUR 100 billion of defense fund.
Can you give us any more color on how you expect to benefit on that? Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Virginia. On your first question, yes, you are absolutely right. The contract from the UK MOD is approximately EUR 2 billion. You know, as you know, within that framework, we are a key player, and we would be expected to perform strategic activities within the work share that we have assigned. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide a specific number, but you know, it clearly is a good opportunity for Leonardo to work on. On the gas rationing, honestly, this is not a concern to us. We are not a big gas user.
In Italy as of now, Minister Cingolani the other day also reassured all industrial players that there's not gonna be any rationing for the months to come, and that actually Italy is in good shape in terms of replenishment of reservoirs and reserves for the winter season.
Talking of the German budget, clearly for us, what is very important is the Eurofighter angle, which is relevant. There are discussions ongoing on the long-term evolution of the Eurofighter. Also on air defense is an area where we have a potentially significant presence. Partially, we will be present in Germany on the programs via Hensoldt, and we are in the process of presenting to the government the cooperation agreement with Hensoldt. These are the key areas. As you know, they will buy as well F-35, and there are talks on where this F-35 will be produced. It likely will be produced in Italy, which again is important for us.
Overall, for us, there is a huge interest on this extra budget. We are not involved in the transport helicopter. You know that in Europe there are no such kind of large helicopters. In Germany, they are very interested in that mainly due to the fact that they use this heavy transport helicopter in order to transport armored vehicles. Mainly tanks and similar things. This is very important. We do understand that strategically for them is relevant.
Thank you very much. Very clear.
The next question is from Andrew Humphrey with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just a couple. One, you mentioned an ATR customer settlement. I wonder if you could give any more clarity on that and let us know if there are any kind of further settlements we might expect in the pipeline. Secondly, like, clearly a strong performance on cash in the second quarter. Can you call out any kind of particularly unusual prepayments or developments on working capital we might have had there?
Andrew, good afternoon. On cash flow mix and composition, nothing to highlight extraordinary. All components are very much in the ordinary scope of our activities. You know, we invoiced more than last year, and we cashed in more than last year. We also accelerated payments to suppliers as per the plan. All, you know, positive phenomenon coming together.
On ATR, we are not in a position to disclose more, but, you know, the situation was one where, during the COVID crisis, there was a set of, let's say, machines ordered by the customer, and then there was a revision, and the basis of this revision, ATR made a settlement with the client that resulted in this one-off benefit.
Great. Thank you.
Sure.
The next question is from Harry Breach with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good. Good evening, Alessandra. Alessandra, Valeria. Thank you for taking my question. Just two simple ones. In space, and apologies if I didn't hear you clearly earlier on. In terms of what happened there and specifically the risk provisions that were taken, looking at it, you know, previous year, as you said, there was a one-off tax benefit, but the year-on-year change was negative EUR 24 million. Is it reasonable for us to assume maybe half of that was due to the risk provision? And then secondly, just with aerostructures, can you give us any idea negative EUR 88 million in the first half? Second half, I think you were indicating it should be better than that, but should we be thinking for the full year about negative EUR 150 million, that kind of level?
Can you give us some sense of that for the full year, please?
Okay, Harry. Space, on space, there are some phenomena that are, yes, combined, you know, on the split, you know, on your assumption is 50/50. It's not very far from your feeling. Reality is that we had, as mentioned, a positive effect on taxes last year, and this year there were a set of drivers behind the underperformance. One is the fact that a key supplier for TAS was affected by a major fire, and it was a circuit board supplier that determined some extra costs in production for TAS. The other element was also linked to activities that TAS group had with Russia and Ukraine.
In particular, there was a project in conjunction with a Russian customer that had to be halted, and therefore the cost incurred had to be written off. These are the key elements that have determined the delta in performance year-over-year of TAS. On aero struct-
Sorry, Alessandra Genco. I was just gonna say, so given what you say on TAS, should we assume that the second half of this year will be more or less in line with the second half of last year's performance, which I think was around EUR 39 million?
I mean, I think, you know, for the full year, the company is clearly undergoing a, you know, a review of the various dynamics that she's experiencing in the market. There are also important contracts that TAS is bidding for. I would say that, you know, we'll develop further a stronger view on the full year as the year progresses.
Thank you. Aerostructures?
Aerostructures, well, we do have a performance for the half year that you have highlighted with a loss of EUR 88 million. For the full year, there is going to be an amount that will reflect an improvement in production rates, hopefully on the B787, as you have heard also from Boeing yesterday. At the same time, there is also going to be some fixed costs to incur. I would say that there is going to be an element of linearity throughout the year in the end performance.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah. What is important for the aerostructures division is the fact that the performance on ATR is continuously improving. The fact that we are doing quite well on the two Airbus programs, the A220 and the A321, which both of them are growing significantly. Last but not least, we continue to read in the media of the fact that Boeing will resume, hopefully, soon the deliveries of the B787, and they are starting to talk of an increase of the rate.
On top of that, we have continuous discussion with them, that clearly will not affect the second half of the year or even the 2023 for a new working package that are very important because we bring other activities to our Apulia presence. We are fully confident to achieve the break even in 2025 as promised. Clearly, we are working in order to give to this division an even more solid perspective.
Okay. Let's take a question from the web. It's from Peter Black from Seraphim. I was wondering if you could speak briefly about your view of the political situation in Italy. Now that Prime Minister Draghi, who was extremely well respected all over the world, has left, and the outlook for the new government that will be formed in September is quite uncertain. Do you believe that there's a risk that a new government with the Lega or Five Star Movement with big representation could sway the Italian budget, and friendliness towards NATO expansion might go away? Could a government potentially stand in the way of Leonardo's growth runway going forward?
Recently, for us, has been partially a shock at the fact that this government finishes activities. They will stay in place at the end of November in any case, because we have to remember that the government so the election will be at the 25th of September. The new chambers will be organized, and will have the first meeting the 13th of October. I think that the fastest way in order to create a new government has been 13 days in the past. We go to the end of October. Having said that, it's very difficult to see what will happen.
I should assume that or there will be a center-right government, or there will be a government similar with a base similar to the one of the Draghi government. In both cases, I do not expect any change in the defense budget, because clearly the center-right usually do have a positive view on defense expenses, and the actual coalition took a commitment in order to go up to 2%. I do not expect any major change in terms of defense expenditure.
Let's take the next question from the call, please.
The next question from the conference call is from George Zhao with Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, everyone, and thanks for taking my question. On the 787, you know, has your production rate been in sync with Boeing's production, such that when they're ready to ramp up, your rate will increase in line with it? Or has there been any inventory buildup such that your ramp up will be a bit more gradual than Boeing's? Secondly, you know, it seems like you're looking to certainly further participate in the European defense consolidation and also expand the presence in the U.S., given the deals you've done recently. I guess, how do you balance these priorities to ensure that you can successfully do both simultaneously? Thanks.
I'll answer the first question, George, and maybe we'll ask you to clarify the second one. On the B787, we normally have, you know, the same track as Boeing. We just need to give Boeing the time to unwind the inventory of the aircraft it has ready for delivery to customer. Once that will be gone, clearly, you know, we will be restarting delivery on a more regular basis. May you repeat your question on EU consolidation from a defense budget standpoint?
Yeah, just one thing, like, you know, you know, you're certainly looking to further push along the, you know, the European defense consolidation, you know, with the deal with Hensoldt. You know, at the same time, you've also looking to expand the presence in the US, you know, with the RADA deal further moving that. So I guess, how do you think about balancing these priorities, to ensure you can do both successfully, simultaneously?
Listen, I don't think that the two things are contradictory. Clearly in U.S., we have a presence via Leonardo DRS, that is and will remain a second-tier company. This is really strategically important for us because we are mainly supplier of the first-tier players, so we don't want to be perceived as a competitor by them. What we are doing with Leonardo DRS are always very targeted acquisitions, as the one we have done with RADA or with Daylight Solutions. Stronger and innovative technologies that can be properly utilized on our portfolio of activities and portfolio of customers. This is U.S.
We always said that we want to keep the majority of Leonardo DRS, so it is important strategically for us. In Europe, personally, I don't see a consolidation soon. I think that there really is a rationalization of the portfolios. I don't think that there is a value in being larger. Adding up new business lines could be relevant to be stronger and more relevant in what I call verticals. Defense electronics is a vertical for us. Also with specific verticals, helicopters, and I can list what we've done. Kopter or Hensoldt are very clear example. This is our strategic priority with a very strong pivotal element. We want to be investment grade.
For us, the financial discipline is really a key element of our strategy.
All right, thank you.
The next question is from Martino De Ambrogi with Equita SIM. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good evening, everybody. The first question is on the guidance, referring to the order intake. Just your feelings following the announcement of the jumbo contract for helicopters in Poland. Am I right in believing there is an upwards revision risk for your guidance? I don't know, with or without the UK MOD, that's my first question. The second is a follow-up on the aerostructures. If I understand correctly, probably at EBITA level, we double the losses recorded in the first half. Am I right in assuming maybe in terms of cash burn and improvement, let's say EUR 50 million, EUR 100 million for the current year?
Very last, connecting my question to the previous one on the political evolution in Italy, is it fair assuming that Oto Melara and WASS potential deal, whatever could have been, is currently frozen because of the political situation?
Guidance, Martino, we know perfectly that we had this jumbo bond, but as you know, there are different elements that have to be considered, for instance, the fact that we have a budget for some time orders that can be postponed to the next year due to the fact that the chambers are not fully operational. We continue to be, I would say, as we have always been, conservative in our view with the incredibly strong willingness to deliver the guidance and hopefully in doing better. Today we keep the guidance. Aerostructures.
I think that, Martino, we know each other quite well, and from time to time, I'm a little bit surprised by the fact that there is this strong focus on the cash flow of Aerostructures. You are right saying that EBITA will be more or less double the one of the first half. Since we said we will generate EUR 500 million of cash as a group. We will give you the numbers on the free operating cash flow absorbed by Aerostructures when we will be at the year-end. What I can say that is wrong to foresee an improvement of EUR 100 million, we will deliver EUR 500 million of cash.
If I may, Alessandro, it is important in order to understand, believing in, the achievement of, the breakeven within 2025, what is the additional upside? This is the reason why I
Yes. We always said that the growth, the path in order to go there is not linear, because in 2025, we foresee a rate incredibly higher than the actual one on the 787. What I can say that the 787 is something which is not in our hand. We are foreseeing not to go to 14, to be lower than 14. Despite the fact that we'll be lower than 14, we will be at breakeven. What we are doing is hopefully in 2025, we will have operations and new work package, because if you take something today, in 2025, we'll already be operational. We will try to do better. We promise breakeven.
The way to go there is something that is not linear, but on that we have been always very transparent, Martino. Because unfortunately for us, the problem is B787. If tomorrow B787 should be at 10, we would achieve the break even incredibly more rapidly. We have to always remember, because also on that we have been very clear, that the real element is the fuselage unit #1406. This is the reason why it's so important to. Because today with the projection we have on the rate, we do expect to be at the fuselage unit #1407 in 2025. That day the price change.
Because today, even if we should produce 14, we would lose money. The time frame in order to go to the 1,406, today we are at 1,200, I think. We have produced something, so we were some months ago at 1,144. Today we are 1,000. But with two per month, unfortunately, it's not moving very rapidly this number. I think that we are slightly higher, but could be 1,150. It's not changing a lot. Again, the rate of the 787 is a key element. All the rest is doing better than the plan. This is very important.
Oto Melara, we continue to work on Oto Melara. Clearly we have to wait for a government in place in order to accomplish anything. We have to be sure that we are talking of the right because it's not a disposal, but you know, is a potential combination with someone else that will create a stronger player at the European level in the armed vehicles. It's important. There is also potentially a cash component, but this is important to be achieved with a strategic perspective.
Got it. Thank you.
The next question is from Gabriele Gambarova with Banca Akros. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you for taking my question, and good evening. Just a couple of question from my side. The first is on the AW249, the new attack helicopters you are developing. I saw that a month ago, someone from Leonardo Helicopters stated that the type is going to fly for the first time, possibly in September. I was wondering if this represent an important milestone, possibly triggering a further contract, maybe to 2022. This is the first question. More in general, I was wondering if the political crisis in Italy.
I mean, I understood that it is not expected to affect the budget, but I was wondering if it could, let's say, delay, in general, the acquisition process for programs that are already in the budget?
On the AW249. The AW249, we'll have the first flight in September. It's correct. It's not a milestone for further orders, because today the orders are related to the development phase. We do expect the next order beginning next year. This is what we plan to have. The helicopter is very exciting. It's for sure relevant to fly because we can also have to discuss of this helicopter with others as well. The second question was on
political crisis.
The political crisis. I've already said that we do not expect a change in terms of programs because we have always to remember that the programs are defined with Segretariato Generale della Difesa because this is important. We can have a delay of some orders from this year to next year because there is a need of some bureaucratic process that goes also through the commissions or something is called concerto of different ministers. We are in continuous touch with the ministries involved, mainly the defense minister and the industry minister in order to understand what could be considered as ordinary administration, ordinary course of business and what is not.
Today what I said very clear is that we confirm the guidance, so we are fully confident to achieve the guidance.
Okay, thank you very much.
Okay, I think this was the final question. Thank you all of you for being with us today. As usual, the IR is available for a follow-up.
Many thanks. Bye.