I don't profit from misfortune. I'm avoiding more of Britain's Thaless boss on building missiles for Ukraine | manufacturing sector

The rest of the fierce Alex Cresswell is very proud of his blue passport. To some, the dark rectangle on his office table is a sad symbol of Britain's departure from the EU. But the boss of Thales UK smiled at the travel document as he explained that he had found it painful to watch the Brexit debate in Westminster during his 10 years working at the company's Paris headquarters.

It is four years since his business, which spans from aerospace to defense and security, was awarded a Home Office contract to produce passports after Gemalto (acquired by Thales) undercut angry incumbent De La Rue to secure the contract. .

Does he see the blue sign as a symbol? Fortunately, I don't. Because it is a commercial contract, we cannot decide what color it will be. He allowed the observer to glance through a stunning passport photo of a familiar profile. 24m have been produced so far.

Cresswell says this is very important because it puts us in the pockets of every citizen. We don't have any of our citizens' biometric data, and our cybersecurity is good enough to be at risk of being breached. [low]. This is why we won. Because, ironically, we were producing a more sovereign solution than existing British companies.

Although not as famous in the UK, Thales competes with defense and aerospace giants across Europe, including Boeing, Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo. The group, which counts the French government as its biggest investor, recorded sales of 18.4 billion (16 billion won) in 2023. In the UK, one of the company's largest markets, where it has 7,000 employees, sales rose 18% to KRW 1.2 billion.

The Thaless field is diverse. There is weapon crafting, including missiles and launchers. Contract for sonar systems for Royal Navy nuclear submarines; Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier design; and space operations in Oxfordshire and Bristol, working on the Lunar Gateway – effectively a gas station for deep space travel in lunar orbit. Many of the outputs are highly technical, such as radar systems and cybersecurity kits.

In the UK, defense accounts for the majority of business and is growing rapidly. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, the group's shares have risen more than 80%, its value has increased to $33 billion, and orders have reached a record high of $45 billion.

The missiles, manufactured by Thales in Belfast, are supplied to fighter jets in Ukraine through the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to shoot down Russian jets, drones and helicopters and attack tank targets. They have been used to great effect in defending Ukraine, Cresswell says. Sales have doubled since just before the invasion of Moscow, and he expects to double again within the next two years.

So does he have any qualms about profiting from a war that has killed thousands of people? I don't know that I benefit from my misfortune. I see the opposite. By being prepared, you can avoid more misfortune.

The recent conflict in the Middle East has further fueled the defense spending boom. Several of Thaless UK's sites, including Glasgow and Doncaster, were targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters throwing paint and carrying hammers. The company has a joint venture with Israel's Elbit to supply unarmed Watchkeeper drones to the British military. Meanwhile, anti-war protesters regularly stage protests at British defense companies.

It's peculiarly British, says Cresswell, that we defend the military while simultaneously disdaining the industries that produce products that protect it or make it more effective.

His office, a few minutes from Buckingham Palace, was General de Gaulle's wartime headquarters and was emblazoned on the outside with the words Vive la France!

That country's president, Emmanuel Macron, called on the EU to be bold in defending Ukraine amid concerns about US commitments. Meanwhile, the long-running debate over the size of Britain's defense spending continues, with the Public Accounts Committee, the parliamentary spending watchdog, warning this month that the MoD has failed to credibly demonstrate how it manages its funds to deliver the military capabilities the government wants. .

There are rules of participation and responsibility. There will be no machine deciding to use lethal force.

We need to be much more prepared for the threats posed to our society. History shows that preparation makes conflict less likely, Cresswell says. I have not felt so uncomfortable or uncertain about threats to Britain since the end of the Cold War.

It was against this backdrop that Cresswell's future was shaped. His father was a production chemist responsible for commissioning factories and refineries. This took Cresswell to Heinz 57 schools in South Africa, Cambridgeshire, the United States and Hertfordshire.

In the 1970s in the United States, he began building radio-controlled airplanes, inspired by a neighbor. Later, his path was solidified when he visited the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. That was all he had. I couldn't do anything except aerospace or aviation, he recalls.

He began his eight-year career as a guided weapons systems engineer at British Aerospace (now BAE) in Stevenage. He joined Thales in 1992 and held a variety of positions, including running the Land Defense Department. At the start of 2020, he took up Britain's top job.

For example, should we prioritize defense spending over the NHS? Do we prioritize waiting for a hip replacement over the threat of a cyber threat collapsing our national infrastructure? It's very difficult to compare.

There are social discussions that have disappeared because of 40 years of peace and prosperity. My parents knew that the privations of war and the threat of war were much more present in their lives.

Thales stands to benefit as technology makes warfare more complex and lessens the burden on ground forces. Last month, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced plans to use AI to predict when British warships and submarines will require maintenance to keep them at sea for longer, amid concerns about the time Royal Navy ships spend in port. A contract worth $1.9 billion was signed. Due to malfunction.

AI is also being used to assist air traffic controllers in optimizing flight sequences and reducing fossil fuel consumption in the process. But Cresswell cautions: There are rules of participation and responsibility. You can't have a machine that decides to use lethal force.

Thales is also at the center of the international tug-of-war over the Aucus Agreement, a tripartite security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US.

Australia joined Aukus, scrapping its submarine project with France and incurring the ire of Thaless's backers. But Cresswell says Thales has sovereign status in all three Aukus countries and holds high-level security clearances. He added that the agreement was the most exciting event attracting talent since the 1958 US-British nuclear arms treaty.

When it comes to the space business, Cresswell acknowledges that tech billionaires have reshaped the industry. The deployment of Elon Musk's Starlink project satellite internet array into low Earth orbit shook the market, but for military and infrastructure applications, low-Earth satellites are much more vulnerable, he said. To some extent, it's like saying Uber will spell the end of traditional taxis, but in reality the market has grown.

resume

60 years old

Family Married to an artist, she has four adult daughters and two granddaughters.

Education I collected my O Levels: 14 and then Aeronautics and Astronautics from Southampton University.

Undisclosed payments. I feel I have been paid fairly for the work I have done and the responsibilities I have had. Is it 1m south? This is it.

My last vacation was Provence, France. There were mercifully two umbrella pine trees in Hampshire to prevent my drone from following its last programmed instructions to return home!

The best advice he ever received My father-in-law told me: Whatever you want to do in the future, no matter who you think is right or wrong, don't forget to do your day job.

Biggest Career Mistake Being Lazy in French at School. My colleagues will be quick to tell you that my French is anything but great.

The phrases he overuses are usually enough to keep the workings of government from being over-engineered.

How he relaxes Cook local food at home in the eco-house we built.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/26/im-not-profiting-from-misery-im-averting-more-thaless-uk-boss-on-making-missiles-for-ukraine The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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