Women senior executives in defence industries are rare, but even more exceptional in missiles, generally seen as “toys for boys.” But there are a few exceptions and Eva, with her passion for technology and her mathematical brain, is one of them…
Lieutenant Laura
Laura will never have anything to do with the French nuclear deterrent force because she holds dual French/Lebanese nationality. But apart from that her bi-nationality, which “is fairly atypical” amongst officers in the French Navy, should not hinder her career, she tells me during our WhatsApp video call a few days before she goes back to sea as captain of the Laplace hydrographic vessel…
Chief Petty Officer Hélène
It was the lapel pin with two dolphins on it worn by some of her crew-mates aboard her first ship that alerted Hélène to a job she'd never heard of: navy diver. A few years after first spotting them she became the first woman to successfully complete the French Navy's gruelling bomb disposal diver course and is currently one of only three female bomb disposal divers on the force…
Midship Laure
Laure is the youngest woman I've profiled so far and also the only one whose life was changed by an eye-test! She's just 22 but behind her chatty, easy-going facade there is a very determined character who knows how to go out and get what she wants. And what she wants is to fly patrol aircraft for the French Navy…
Sub-Lieutenant Hélène
Sub-lieutenant Hélène is at the cusp of a career as a helicopter pilot in the French Navy. She should be fully qualified and a lieutenant by this summer, although, like almost everybody else in France right now, she is confined and not attending any more training sessions for the time being. She was outdoors as we spoke via FaceTime on a lovely spring day, her voice sometimes drowned by the twittering of the birds…
Lt. Commander Audrey
Audrey is a Lt-Commander in the French Navy. But she could also be a squadron leader in the air force or a major in the army because she successfully passed the exams to get into the officer training schools of all three armed forces! “Even as a small child I was attracted to anything military. I liked things orderly and methodical and wanted to do something involving teamwork and travel. I couldn't imagine sitting behind a desk in an office all day,” she tells me…