06 Nov 03. Patrick R. Marion has joined DRS Technologies, Inc. as vice president and general manager of the company’s DRS Laurel Technologies unit in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. As vice president and general manager, Mr. Marion will continue to build on the strong performance of DRS Laurel Technologies and focus on enhancing the core competencies that provide critical support to DRS’s Electronic Systems Group. Patrick Marion succeeds John Donnelly, who left the company to pursue other interests.
03 Nov 03, Former Northrop Grumman Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kent Kresa has joined private equity firm Carlyle Group as a senior adviser to its aerospace and defense group, Carlyle said on Monday. Carlyle Managing Director Allan Holt said Kresa would help shape Carlyle’s strategy in the sector, identifying potential investments and advising Carlyle-owned companies. Kresa, who retired from Northrop in October, was also recently appointed to the board of directors of General Motors Corp., the world’s largest automaker.
Oct 03. BAE SYSTEMS is axeing around 300 jobs from its Southway Plymouth plant. Announcing the jobs cuts this week the company stated that there had been a decline in its traditional defence business with ‘some orders cancellled by the MoD’. The full extent of the cuts will not be finalised until a review process is completed early next year, but they are expected to fall across the board. Whilst the prospect of job losses was not altogether unexpected the scale is much greater than had been anticipated. Some seventy jobs were shed earlier this year. The upside of the situation is that the company does not expect to reduce R&D work and has been awarded a Regional Selective Employment Grant of around £1.6 million to assist in the preservation of its skills base. BASES expects to continue the development of its solid-state accelerometer product line and in particular the application for the Segway mobility system and does not expect to migrate development to its Japanese partner. BAES has high expectations for this product line, but sources state that it has been facing intense competition from suppliers who are much more attuned to auto-industry economics. Their interpretation is that the defence industry culture is still a country mile from the ‘real world’.