DGA — Women in defence

Nov 9

Nov 9 Dr Céline Coma Brebel

Céline is not a medical doctor but a doctor of computer sciences. Enthusiastic, chatty and keen to explain her job, she’s not at all like Lisbeth Salander, the hacker in Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. And she doesn’t wear hooded sweatshirts either! “On the contrary I wear a dress and necklaces every day and it’s very important to me, as well as to my female colleagues, that we look feminine” laughs this woman who is, today, a cybersecurity architect at Airbus CyberSecurity, a branch of Airbus Defense & Space…

Jul 10

Jul 10 Justine

Christina Mackenzie

Aerospace industry

Orange is not a colour that suits many people. But Justine wears her orange boiler-suit proudly because it shows that she is involved in flight testing. From pilot to engineer, all those involved in flight testing wear orange so that should things go horribly wrong and they have to eject from the aircraft, rescuers will find them more easily…

Jun 20

Jun 20 General Monique Legrand-Larroche

Christina Mackenzie

Defence Procurement

Monique Legrand-Larroche is a petite woman whose kind blue eyes and very long hair, habitually worn in a ponytail, belie the iron determination which led her to becoming France's first 4-star General... and the holder of a private helicopter pilot's licence…

Jun 18

Jun 18 General Caroline Laurent

Christina Mackenzie

Defence Procurement

Caroline Laurent has a very quiet voice for a four-star General! I have to lean forwards to hear her even though we're sitting in a large, quiet office that's been set up for her in the French Ministry of the Armed Forces' pavilion at the Eurosatory land and air-land show, held just outside Paris last week. I have half an hour scheduled with her. Our conversation lasts more than twice that long…

Jun 15

Jun 15 Colonel Delphine

Christina Mackenzie

Defence Procurement

Delphine is not only a colonel in the French DGA (see glossary), she's an engineer, a doctor in robotics and has been the director of advanced studies for land systems for the past year. “What motivates me is trying to build things,” she says…

Based in Paris, FRANCE, WOMBAT is a blog by CHRISTINA MACKENZIE. Her posts PORTRAY WOMEN THE WORLD OVER WHO'VE CHOSEN TO SERVE THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES IN THE DEFENCE SECTOR.