Leonardo DRS Company Profile, Products, Employees and Revenue
Leonardo DRS is one of the largest US defense electronics companies, with roughly $3.2 billion in 2024 revenue and sensors, computing and naval power systems embedded across the American arsenal. Founded in 1969 as Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems and majority-owned by Italy’s Leonardo since 2008, the Arlington-based firm returned to the NASDAQ in 2022 and now rides two of the Pentagon’s biggest spending waves, infrared sensing and submarine electric propulsion.
Leonardo DRS at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Leonardo DRS, Inc. |
| Headquarters | Arlington, Virginia, United States |
| Founded | 1969, as Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, Inc. |
| Ownership | Leonardo S.p.A. holds roughly 72 percent; the rest trades on NASDAQ as DRS |
| Revenue | Roughly $3.2 billion in 2024 |
| Employees | Roughly 8,000 across more than two dozen US locations |
| Segments | Advanced Sensing and Computing; Integrated Mission Systems |
| CEO | William J. Lynn III, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense |
Who owns Leonardo DRS
The company began in 1969 as Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, a two-man sonar signal-processing shop in New York, and spent the 1990s and 2000s rolling up US military electronics businesses. Italy’s Finmeccanica, now Leonardo, bought DRS Technologies in 2008 for about $5.2 billion, one of the largest foreign acquisitions of a US defense firm ever approved.
Because its owner is foreign, Leonardo DRS operates under a proxy-style governance arrangement with the US government that walls off classified programs from Italian management. Leonardo returned the company to public markets in November 2022, listing it on NASDAQ while keeping roughly 72 percent of the shares. Day to day, the firm is run from Arlington by CEO Bill Lynn, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, which tells you how seriously it treats its Pentagon relationships.
What does Leonardo DRS make
| Area | What it supplies |
|---|---|
| Infrared sensing | Thermal weapon sights, next-generation FLIR sensors and infrared detector modules for soldiers and combat vehicles |
| Force protection | Short-range air defense mission equipment, counter-drone sensors and fire control for programs such as the Army’s M-SHORAD Stryker variant |
| Tactical radars | Compact multi-mission radars used for counter-UAS, counter-fire and short-range air defense cueing |
| Network computing | Mounted Family of Computer Systems (MFoCS) battle-management hardware fielded across Army vehicles |
| Naval power and propulsion | Electric drive and power distribution for US Navy submarines and surface ships |
| Electronic warfare and comms | Signals intelligence, jam-resistant communications and naval electronic support systems |
The through-line is that Leonardo DRS rarely builds the platform and almost always builds the eyes, brain or muscle inside it. Its infrared detectors sit in rifle sights and armored-vehicle viewers, its computers run the Army’s mounted battle command network, and its sensors and mission equipment arm the short-range air defense Strykers the Army is fielding against drones, a mission set Ukraine has pushed to the top of every budget.
Leonardo DRS and the Columbia-class submarine
The company’s single most strategic franchise may be underwater. Leonardo DRS supplies key elements of the electric propulsion system for the US Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, the first American boats to use electric drive, and it produces power conversion and distribution equipment across the submarine fleet built by General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII. As the Navy works through a generational submarine buildout, that naval power business gives DRS a decade-plus revenue tail, and the company has been expanding its South Carolina propulsion plant to match.
Leonardo DRS financials and outlook
Leonardo DRS reported roughly $3.2 billion of revenue in 2024, up strongly on the prior year, with a backlog in the range of $8 billion that stretches across sensing, naval and force-protection programs. The growth drivers are unusually well aligned with US priorities, counter-drone defense, infrared sensing for a modernizing Army, and the submarine industrial base, all areas where budgets have proven resilient regardless of which party holds Washington.
The risks are concentration and ownership. The company leans heavily on US government customers, and its Italian parent means any deterioration in transatlantic defense-industrial politics lands on its cap table, though the governance firewall has held through multiple administrations. Against that, the balance of its portfolio, spread across dozens of programs rather than one flagship, makes it less exposed than platform primes to a single cancellation.
Leonardo DRS frequently asked questions
Is Leonardo DRS an American company?
It is a US-incorporated, US-run company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, but Italy’s Leonardo owns roughly 72 percent. A special governance structure keeps classified US work insulated from the foreign parent.
What does the DRS in Leonardo DRS stand for?
It traces to Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, the sonar-electronics firm founded in 1969 that grew by acquisition into DRS Technologies before Finmeccanica bought it in 2008.
What does Leonardo DRS build for the US Army?
Thermal weapon sights and infrared sensors, mounted battle-management computers, tactical radars, and mission equipment for short-range air defense vehicles used against drones and cruise missiles.
What does Leonardo DRS do on submarines?
It supplies electric propulsion and power distribution equipment for US Navy submarines, including the Columbia-class ballistic missile boats, the Navy’s first electric-drive submarines.
Is Leonardo DRS publicly traded?
Yes. It listed on NASDAQ under the ticker DRS in November 2022, with Leonardo S.p.A. retaining majority ownership.
- Leonardo DRS public filings and investor disclosures (2024 figures)
- Wikipedia – Leonardo DRS (accessed October 2026)
- US Army and US Navy program information
- Defence & Tech reporting on the US defense electronics sector
