LONDON — The Eurofighter consortium has appointed Atlas Elektronik boss Volker Paltzo to head the Typhoon jet management company as its new CEO.
Paltzo was chief operating officer (capability ) at Eurofighter from 2009 to 2011 and returns to the combat-jet consortium after a four-year stint at the Atlas naval and maritime electronics and system business jointly owned by Airbus and ThyseenKrupp.
The Eurofighter personnel shuffle is the second CEO appointment announced in Europe in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, Lockheed Martin announced a change at the top of its UK operations.
Current Eurofighter CEO, Alberto Gutierrez, is moving a few miles down the road from the Hallbergmoos–based Typhoon operation to become the new head of the Eurofighter program at Airbus Defence and Space in Manching, Germany.
Gutierrez was appointed to the Eurofighter role at the start of 2013.
The changeovers become operative Jan. 1 next year.
The Eurofighter consortium has appointed Atlas Elektronik boss Volker Paltzo to head the Typhoon jet management company as its new CEO.
Photo Credit: Eurofighter
Eurofighter manages the Typhoon jet program for partner companies Airbus, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica.
The change-over at the top of Eurofighter comes at the end of a tough year for the Typhoon jet with the rival Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter being selected by Egypt, India and Qatar.
Prospects brightened for Typhoon in September though when Kuwait announced it would purchase 28 jets.
Last week, BAE announced it would slow down production of Typhoon structures and its assembly line in Warton, England, until the Kuwait order kicked in at the end of the decade.
Paltzo said in a statement that he is “absolutely convinced” Typhoon will continue to win new customers.
The incoming CEO said Gutierrez had done a “great job in moving the company forward. The company achieved contract signatures for the Meteor and Storm Shadow [missiles] integration, for the future E-Scan radar and the Phase 3 Enhancement.”
Yesterday, Lockheed Martin also announced it is appointing a new CEO of its UK business with Peter Ruddock taking over from Stephen Ball at the start of next year.
Ball is retiring after 15 years at the company,the last six as CEO.
Ruddock, currently the business development director at Lockheed Martin UK, has been with the company since 2011 after leaving the Royal Air Force as an Air Marshal.
