Former BAE Systems director Steve Mogford has taken the helm as Chief Executive of Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems, a division of the Italian Finmeccanica group and a core part of the group’s defence electronics capability.
Mogford joined Selex S&AS in May, after a 30-year career at BAE Systems. Until this January he was the group’s chief operating officer, and he remained on the BAE board until April. At Selex, he has responsibility for the company’s UK and Italian operations.
Selex S&AS was set up in 2005 when Finmeccanica acquired the former Marconi electronics business from BAE Systems – so Mogford will be familiar with part of his new empire. Selex S&AS is the second-largest European defence electronics player, and is a key avionics supplier to both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. In its short two-year existence it has consolidated its position as a sensors and systems supplier through a significant number of contracts with international customers including the US Coastguard, Australian Coastwatch, US Army, Canadian Army, the UK Royal Navy and the
UK Army.
“I am delighted to have joined the Finmeccanica group” says Mogford. “Electronics systems are crucial to the integrated solutions required by today’s markets and this makes my job, running Finmeccanica’s sensors and airborne systems provider, a very challenging opportunity.”
Today, Selex S&AS trades as Galileo Avionica in Italy and Selex S&AS in the UK with a broad product portfolio. “The next step will be to bring these companies closer in order to achieve best performance and cost savings,” Mogford adds.
Integrated
Selex S&AS has more than 2,000 airborne radars in service worldwide, and its airborne and land systems are installed on more than 30 different aircraft platforms. Mogford says: “Increasingly, the focus of the company will be around incorporating sensors into a wide range of capability solutions in a flexible manner, providing integrated systems, particularly in the ISR/ISTAR sector.”
Source: Flight Daily News
