09 Aug 04. Command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul was handed over from the Canadian Army (Lt Gen R Hillier) to HQ Eurocorps (Lt Gen J-L Py, French Army) as ISAF V became ISAF VI. The UK contribution to ISAF, of about 580 personnel, remains unchanged. Comment: General Py’s main concern will be to maintain the security of Kabul and the Northern outposts before and during the Presidential elections, due to be held on 9 Oct 04.
Eurocorps was formed in 1992 and can now provide a Rapid Reaction Corps HQ for either the European Union or for NATO. HQ Eurocorps is at Strasbourg and calls on troops from five ‘framework’ nations: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain. On 30 Jun 04 the Prime Minister announced that the UK had offered to deploy the (mainly British) HQ of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) to lead ISAF in 2006. (Source: DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 04/32, 16 Aug 04)
10 Aug 04. Rolls-Royce announced that its Aero Repair and Overhaul facility in East Kilbride was to be replaced by a new, £45m state-of-the-art factory. The company has already invested £85m in updating and relocating its Compression Systems manufacturing facility at Inchinnan, near Glasgow Airport. Comment: On 30 Apr 04, Rolls-Royce announced that it was to invest over £100m in modernising factories at four sites in England (at Barnoldswick in Lancashire, Bristol, Derby and Hucknall near Nottingham). The company employs some 35,000 people of whom 21,000 are in the UK. Rolls-Royce states that the Company has 160 Service customers, including 50 navies. (Source: DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 04/32, 16 Aug 04)
12 Aug 04. The President-designate of the European Commission announced the policy portfolios he had allocated to each of the new Commissioners. The Rt Hon P B Mandelson, the UK’s Commissioner, is to be the Commissioner for Trade. The Commissioner for External Relations, including Common Foreign & Security Policy, is to be Mrs B Ferrero-Waldner of Austria. Comment: Subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament, the new Commission will take office for five years on 1 Nov 04. Within the enlarged European Union, the larger countries no longer have two Commissioners: the retiring UK representatives being the Rt Hon N Kinnock and the Rt Hon C F Patten. Mrs Ferrero-Waldner has been the Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs since February 2000 but lost the election for Federal President in April 2004. A biography of Mrs Ferrero-Waldner states that her “determinedly friendly smile has earned her the nickname ‘Ferrero-Küsschen’ (Ferrero Kiss)”. (10 Aug 04)
03 Aug 04. The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter team is expanding leadership responsibility to focus on the program’s two major elements: program-requirements integration and contract execution. Tom Burbage will lead a new organization as F-35 JSF executive vice president and general manager of Program Integration, responsible for the fulfillment of program requirements. Concurrent with Burbage’s focused role on domestic and international customer requirements, Bob Elrod, formerly executive vice president for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Programs, joins the team as F-35 JSF executive vice president and general manager. In this role, Elrod will be responsible for contract execution. Elrod and Burbage assumed their new duties on Aug. 2.
Aug 04. Elbit Systems Ltd. has announced that Doron Birger and Avi Fisher have submitted their resignations from the Company’s Board of Directors. The resignations were submitted following the completion of the sale of all of Elron Electronic Industries Ltd’s holdings in the Company to Federmann Enterprises Ltd.
03 Aug 04. Northrop Grumman Corporation has named former U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Joe G. Taylorcorporate lead executive for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine
Command (TRADOC). Taylor joined Northrop Grumman last August as vice president, strategic programs-land forces for the company’s Mis