It was announced that our infrared countermeasures (IRCM) team in Edinburgh had won the Queen’s Award for Innovation due to the ingenuity of its technology that has protected aircrews and passengers around the globe since the 1990s. Later in the year, Robert Aldridge, The Rt. Hon. Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh, would visit our site in Crewe Toll to formally present the award, which represents the highest honour a monarch can present to a business in the UK.
The good news continued when Leonardo was chosen to deliver the next stage of AW159 Wildcat helicopter Integrated Support and Training contract in the UK, with an agreement that promises to sustain more than 340 industry jobs in the South West of England.
It was exciting to see our Thermal Imaging technology once again used in a BBC David Attenborough documentary, as Dynasties II captured dramatic footage of elephants in the pitch-black of night.
We continued working with our partners, the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK), sponsoring and contributing to their annual AFBELive! conference in London. Ahead of the event, we spoke with Leonardo’s Ethnicity Network Group STEM Lead, Arvind, about the importance of mentorship and representation when challenging the barriers around diversity and social mobility.
We also took part in the National Cyber Security Centre’s CYBERUK, in Newport, Wales. Ahead of the exhibition, Scott Bartlett, Leonardo’s Head of Consulting for our UK Cyber & Security business, gave an insight on how experts are working around the clock to protect the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure.
Later in the month, we hosted more than 25 companies spanning UK aerospace and industry to share a range of perspectives on how to unlock Social Value at the iAero centre next to our Yeovil site, the Home of British Helicopters.