iscover
Northrop Grumman Australia has expanded the responsibilities of Chris Keane following the departure of RAAF veteran Chris Deeble.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Keane — who will now be director, strategy and future business — will report to Christine Zeitz, vice president and general manager, Asia-Pacific.
The restructure comes off the back of the departure of Deeble, who assumed the position of Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defence in July after serving for three years as NGA’s chief executive.
Zeitz welcomed Keane’s appointment to the expanded role, adding the new executive leadership team would continue to drive NGA’s growth strategy.
“Northrop Grumman Australia has been on an ambitious growth journey to invest in sovereign Australian industry capability and keep pace with our customers operating in an increasingly complex and demanding geostrategic environment,” Zeitz said.
“Chris has the runs on the board to build on this growth and we welcome his leadership and expertise to achieve our aspirations.”
Keane first joined Northrop Grumman Australia in in December 2021 as the inaugural director, future business.
Prior to joining NGA, Keane served for almost 16 years with BAE Systems Australia, holding a number of senior leadership roles, including chief of future business, director of strategy and business development, and head of government relations.
The leadership restructure comes just weeks after Northrop Grumman has unveiled the first of up to seven MQ-4C Triton aircraft to be delivered to the RAAF.
The aircraft is on track for production completion in 2023 ahead of final delivery to Australia in mid-2024.
The RAAF’s future high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) platform was showcased on Thursday (15 September) during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman’s production site in California, attended by senior Australian and US government and defence officials.
The Tritons are tipped to deliver over 24-hour endurance, collecting essential ISR data over land and sea to enable rapid, informed decision-making.
The HALE systems have also been designed to support future connectivity with the joint force, leveraging advanced autonomy and artificial intelligence/machine learning.
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
