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26 Feb 23. Germany to place order for backfilling howitzers months earlier than planned. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday he expected the contracts for the backfilling of howitzers that Berlin rushed to Ukraine last year to be signed by the end of March, months earlier than originally planned.
“If everything works out, the contracts for the new howitzers will be signed by the end of the coming month,” he told German public broadcaster ARD.
Pistorius, who took office in January, did not specify the number of weapons to be reordered, but the German military last year handed over 14 self-propelled howitzers produced by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to Kyiv.
Pistorius’ predecessor had planned to present the order for new howitzers to parliament for approval in mid-2023, according to a defence source.
(Source: Reuters)
26 Feb 23. Thales to hire more than 12,000 people worldwide in 2023 to support its growth trajectory
After a record-breaking year for recruitment in 2022, Thales is continuing to hire in 2023
- In 2023, Thales plans to hire more than 12,0001 new employees to support its strong growth trajectory in its three core markets: Aerospace, Defence and Security, and Digital Identity and Security.
- The Group will be hiring all over the world, and expects to take on 5,500 new employees in France, 1,050 in the United Kingdom, 600 in Australia, 550 in India and 540 in the United States.
- The recruitment plans follow a series of earlier achievements:
o A record level of recruitment in 2022, with 11,500 new hires (50% more than in 2021)
o Success in protecting jobs during the COVID public health crisis, particularly by redeploying affected aerospace staff to other businesses
o 8 consecutive years (2015-2022) of hiring at least 5,000 people annually
Thales is recruiting people in a range of job profiles, for its R&D and industrial operations
- Thales is hiring in every discipline across all its business segments, and in particular:
o For Research & Development (40% of new hires): software and systems engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, etc.
o For industrial operations (20% of new hires): supply chain, electronics production, mechanical production, etc.
- Thales is working to improve the gender balance in its workforce. In 2022, women accounted for 32% of new hires worldwide, and represented 27% of the Group’s global workforce (compared to 23.6% in 2018).
- In addition, Thales is particularly interested in apprenticeships and internships. In France for example, close to 4,000 students are expected to join the company in 2023, in addition to the more than 5,500 new hires planned for French sites. These opportunities can be an important springboard to permanent employment for these young people: each year, about 40% of the students on work-study and internship programmes are hired in engineering roles on fixed or indefinite term contracts.
Thales, inventing the future in 68 countries
- Innovation at Thales is part of building a future we can all trust by harnessing the talents of 35,000 R&D engineers and a portfolio of 20,000 patents in specialised fields such as quantum technologies, AI, lasers, cybersecurity and more. In 2023, for the 10th year, Thales was listed as one of the world’s 100 most innovative companies, in Clarivate’s Top 100 Global Innovators™ 2023, a global benchmark for innovation.
- With its broad range of businesses, and an industrial and academic footprint spanning across 68 countries, Thales offers a wealth of long-term and highly diversified career opportunities.
“There is meaning in what we do at Thales, particularly in these times of upheaval and transformation. Day after day, our people around the world are driven by the same goal – harnessing human intelligence and technology to drive progress in our societies. Joining Thales is a ticket to some of technology’s great human adventures and a chance to be part of a learning organisation that places a premium on collective endeavour.” Patrice Caine, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Thales.
24 Feb 23. Leonardo CEO sees European ‘change of mindset’ on defence.
European countries have become far more ready to invest in defence and security in the wake of the war in Ukraine, the head of Italy’s defence and aerospace group Leonardo (LDOF.MI) said on Thursday.
“There is a very clear change of mindset, at least in Europe, on defence, which is incredibly important,” CEO Alessandro Profumo said in a video interview with the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
He noted that while “some years ago” defence spending met with social and political resistance, now “all European countries” are committed to the NATO target of spending at least 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
On Tuesday, Leonardo’s shares jumped after an Italian newspaper reported that Rome’s government could expand military aid to Ukraine with the supply of fighter jets, but Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has ruled it out for the moment.
(Source: Google/Reuters)
20 Feb 23. Viktor Orbán expands his grip to Hungary’s military and defence industry. Budapest’s ambivalence on Russia and deteriorating US ties cause concern among Nato allies. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky was still in business with a Russian rail company under US sanctions when he took over as Hungary’s defence minister last year. Although he sold his stake weeks after assuming office, his appointment, business ties and political affinities are indicative of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s expanding grip on Hungarian society to include the armed forces and defence industry. The Orbanisation of the Hungarian military-industrial complex comes as Nato allies are increasingly alarmed by the PM’s ambivalent stance towards Russia and the war in Ukraine, where Budapest remains an outlier in its continued refusal to send weapons to Kyiv. Orbán on Saturday defended his position, arguing that any actions by Nato allies that go beyond defending themselves are optional and that his country opted to stay out of the war. “We don’t think humanitarian support to Ukraine means nullifying our Russian connections,” Orbán said. “That would be against our national interest . . . So we maintain our economic ties with Russia, and we advise the entire western world the same.” A longtime Orbán ally, Szalay-Bobrovniczky last month started a push to trim the military’s top ranks, many of whom spent their whole career within Nato — a move critics say is politically motivated. Petr Pavel, a former Nato general recently elected as Czech president, described the military purge as part of a “step-by-step concentration of power around Viktor Orbán and restrictions on all those who had a different view”. On paper, Szalay-Bobrovniczky has the right credentials for his job: as a businessman, he invested in the defence sector and served as Hungary’s ambassador to the UK between 2016 and 2022. But his career would have probably taken a different turn had he not become what Tamás Csiki Varga, a defence expert at the Hungarian University of Public Service, called “an important member of Orbán’s governing elite”.
“Hungary’s military upgrade will require a staggering amount of resources,” said Csiki Varga, adding that the minister enjoys the “political trust” needed to spend the funds effectively. As a former leader of a pro-government think-tank and a weekly newspaper, Szalay-Bobrovniczky has maintained close ties to the System of National Cooperation (NER), Orbán’s network of institutions and private corporations that is leading the development of Hungary’s defence industry. Orbán’s plans for the defence industry were made clear last year, when he attended a ceremony for army recruits: “We are building a military industry here at home, in Hungary, one that can produce modern weapons.” Szalay-Bobrovniczky is seen as the right man to implement that strategy partly because he once participated in the sector as an investor: In 2021, he purchased a Czech aircraft manufacturer, Aero Vodochody, with the help of a €150mn loan from the state-owned Hungarian Development Bank. Weeks before he was appointed, he received a government order of 12 training and reconnaissance jets in an estimated €180mn deal. After taking office, Szalay-Bobrovniczky sold his stakes in the plane maker, as well as in the Russian joint venture, to an investment fund controlled by Zsolt Hernádi, chief executive of oil group MOL. Hernádi, regarded by some analysts as an NER insider, declined to comment on his role in the acquisitions. Szalay-Bobrovniczky has long identified as a backer of the illiberal regime of Orbán. He said in 2015 that he was “an active member of the ongoing elite change” replacing leftist-liberal politics — a role that has come with powerful friends and juicy perks. In 2020, while ambassador in London, he acquired a casino commission together with another friend of Orbán’s affiliated with NER. According to company data, the casino company paid its owners a €28mn dividend in 2021. Szalay-Bobrovniczky sold his stake in the casino venture in December for an undisclosed price. The buyer was Árpád Habony, Orbán’s political mastermind. The award of public contracts to Orbán’s coterie, including for EU-funded projects, is among the reasons why Budapest has failed to unlock some €30bn of EU money, despite the premier’s attempts to pressure Brussels by delaying sanctions against Russia and financial assistance to Ukraine. One of the main companies involved in Hungary’s fledgling defence industry is 4iG, a listed telecommunications group. Once a lossmaking penny stock, it was acquired in 2018 by Orbán’s childhood friend Lőrinc Mészáros, Hungary’s richest man. State contracts have sparked a rapid expansion for 4iG: revenue in the first three quarters of 2022 exceeded full-year 2017 numbers about 13-fold. Its share price has increased from Ft40 ($0.11) in 2017 to Ft700. Passed on to a former Mészáros associate, Gellért Jászai, in 2020, 4iG has since bought state-owned transmission systems operator Antenna Hungária; used state loans to buy Vodafone’s Hungarian business; and acquired a string of Balkans telecommunications companies. German arms maker Rheinmetall, which contributes to the manufacture of the Leopard 2 tanks coveted by Ukraine, last year took a 25 per cent stake in 4iG. Their joint venture plans to offer military-grade IT services in what Jászai said was a “unique opportunity to gain a foothold in the global defence industry”. Rheinmetall will sell hundreds of Lynx armoured carriers to Hungary, as well as ammunition and technical equipment, opening at least three factories to enable local production. Production of Lynxes started up in the western town of Zalaegerszeg last month. Recommended Hungary Viktor Orbán comes under Nato scrutiny over purge of Hungarian military’s top brass Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall chief executive, called the co-operation “a token of our special commitment to Hungary” and an integral part of a digitisation strategy that reflects modern weapons systems’ reliance on IT infrastructure. 4iG said its partnership with the Hungarian government was limited to the telecommunications sector. “Our strategic co-operation with Rheinmetall is in no direct connection with Rheinmetall’s position as a government supplier [in Hungary],” 4iG said, adding that it seeks to expand its partnership with the German company beyond Hungary’s borders. Szalay-Bobrovniczky said the defence industry partnerships were mainly European “for strategic reasons” — highlighting Hungary’s increasing distance from Nato’s leading force, the US. Ties with America have frayed more rapidly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In one especially heated exchange, US ambassador David Pressman reminded Hungary it should side unambiguously with the west, sparking an angry response from Budapest. Pressman said Hungary’s relationship with Russia remained “concerning, especially as it had shown no signs of abating following Russia’s full-scale invasion”. “While every country has its own interests and perspectives, Russia’s brazen attempts to redraw borders by force tears up the rule book,” he told the Financial Times. “(They) are not merely a domestic political issue for any single country, especially an ally.” (Source: FT.com)
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need. A CNIM Group Company
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