05 Jul 05. LynuxWorks™ Inc. has appointed Steve Blackman to director of business development for the company’s military and aerospace market segment. Mr. Blackman joins LynuxWorks with more than 25 years of embedded systems experience within the military and aerospace markets. In his new role, he will be responsible for business development, strategic partnerships, product strategy and developing the company’s overall future vision in the aerospace and defence markets. In addition, Mr. Blackman will focus on LynuxWorks’ involvement and support for both the military’s Future Combat Systems program as well as the information assurance solutions program.

29 Jun 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation has appointed veterans of the company’s space exploration and technology development business areas to lead two of its top engineering functions. Peggy Nelson has been named vice president of mission assurance and chief engineer, and Sonya Sepahban has been named vice president of system engineering, both at the Space Technology sector.

01 Jul 05. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been named grand marshal for the Pepsi 400 NASCAR race Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. (Source: Daytona Beach News-Journa)

01 Jul 05. A three-star Navy admiral who commanded Special Operations forces during the war in Afghanistan has been nominated by President Bush to become the No. 2 official at the CIA. Vice Adm. Albert M. Calland III, who was the top military liaison at the agency, will serve as deputy to CIA Director Porter Goss. (Source: New York Times)

04 Jul 05. Bernard Rétat retires. After a richly rewarding career, 12 years of which he spent with Thales, Bernard Rétat retires on 30th June and consequently withdraws from his role as Vice-Chairman at that date. The Group would like to express its appreciation for his excellent contributions throughout the years. Held in high esteem by Executive Committee members, he will continue advising the Chairman of Thales on matters within his extensive fields of expertise. Ingénieur General de l’Armement and graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, he spent most of his career working for the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA).

29 Jun 05. Caribbean: Security Advisory Team.A Foreign Office Minister announced (that the official launch of a UK Security Advisory Team (UKSAT) had taken place in Antigua on 9 Jun 05. The UKSAT project supports two Foreign Office policies: protection of the UK from illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other international crime and secondly assistance with the security and good governance of the Overseas Territories.

Comment: UKSAT will have a staff of 14; eight from the UK and six recruited locally. The UK staff will include Officers from the Royal Navy and from HM Revenue & Customs. (HM Revenue & Customs was formed on
18 Apr 05, through an amalgamation of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs, and is a Non-Ministerial Government Department.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 05/26, 04 Jul 05)

27 Jun 05. Service Personnel: Deployments. In a Written Answer, the Armed Forces’ Minister gave the locations of some 12,570 Service personnel deployed and some 36,770 stationed outside Great Britain. The details are at page 3. Comment: Self-evidently, the figures at page 3 only reflect a ‘snapshot’ at a particular time, late June 2005 in this case. The General Officer Commanding, Northern Ireland, can call upon additional troops from Great Britain as and when required. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 05/23, 13 June 05)

30 Jun 05. Kosovo: Deployment. The Armed Forces’ Minister said that the UK had no plans to send additional troops to Kosovo in 2005. The UK’s current contribution to NATO operations in Kosovo is some 170 troops. Comment: The UK provides a Battalion to the Balkans-wide ‘over the horizon’ Operational Reserve Forces, as do Germany and Italy. Should NATO so request, the Ba