ThalesRaytheonSystems Appoints New CEO

Jérôme Bendell has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ThalesRaytheonSystems SAS, the French entity of the joint venture between Thales and Raytheon, according to an official statement. He succeeds Philippe Duhamel, who was appointed Chief Executive Officer of international joint venture ThalesRaytheonSystems in July 2013.    

Bendell began his career in 1992 at the French defense procurement agency (DGA), where he was responsible for naval radar integration and testing. In 1996, he was appointed to head the agency's joint electronic warfare activities, and in 2001 became director of the program to develop an air defense system for the French, Italian and British navies.   

In 2003, he joined Alcatel Alenia Space as Vice-President, Marketing & Sales for the company's defense businesses, and in 2007 was appointed Vice-President, Defense and Security Strategy for the Alcatel- Lucent Group.   

He joined Thales in 2009 as director of naval communication systems. In this position, he helped to develop the Group's business in Brazil, Russia and the Middle East, and was involved in several successful naval projects including the Horizon and FREMM multi-mission frigates in France and Italy and the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier program in the United Kingdom.