I’d like you to meet…

With it being Armed Forces Week, I wanted to shine a light on six of the many talented people I’m proud to work with at Thales and to get their reflections on their relationship with the Armed Forces. Not all have served in the military, but each one embodies how deep the bonds are between civil and military worlds in the support of our nation’s Armed Forces.

Today, we’ll hear from Paul Dingley, ex-Royal Navy Officer and Head of Major Captures – Sovereign at Thales.

Call of the sea

I went to a great school, but I didn't want to do ‘A’ Levels. After discussing it with my Mum, somehow, she agreed I could leave school only if I joined the Royal Navy. My ‘O’ level results weeks later proved it was a sound decision! So in 1987, at the tender age of 16, I pitched up at HMS Raleigh and became a Junior Marine Engineering Mechanic (Second Class). Six months later I was on HMS Andromeda, a Leander Class frigate, and the youngest person in a 42-man mess deck. My real first job, after a mandatory stint in the ‘pot wash’, was as a Boiler-front stoker. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds – actually it was, but the passing of time dims the memory.?

After being sent deep into the ship’s bilge (again) because I was the youngest, to retrieve a spanner (that wasn’t actually there), I thought, "I can’t do this anymore”. I did, of course, as we were heading to the Gulf to patrol the area, which was exciting. A few years later, I was much happier flying 200 feet above the ship as an Aircrewman in a Sea King helicopter, knowing some other young ‘stoker’ was scouring the bilge for something that wasn’t there, or standing outside the ship’s workshop after being told to go and ask the Workshop Petty Officer for a “long weight”.?

After a few years of being an Aircrewman and hanging off the end of a helicopter winch I became an Officer and started watching other people do it, which was much safer! As Royal Navy Aircrew, I completed multiple front-line tours. These included operational ones in the Gulf and the Balkans with various Squadrons at RNAS Culdrose. I was also an Observer serving on all three Aircraft Carriers, as well as HMS Cornwall and HMS Cumberland.

In 2006, I joined Navy Command in Portsmouth and spent time off the coast of America on the USS Eisenhower Aircraft Carrier. The mission: to see what we could learn about how the US Navy operated and managed aviation, so we could take the best of that and implement it into our future procedures on the new Aircraft Carriers the Navy was building in Rosyth.

I left in 2008, and worked at various UK, US, and Canadian defence and technology companies, mainly in Programme Delivery and Business Development roles before joining Thales last year as the Head of Major Captures – Sovereign. I run a team looking at how our innovative solutions can benefit the Armed Forces as a whole, but particularly the Royal Navy and especially our exceptional submarine service.

My Forces journey has been a real advantage in my current role, because if you understand what the military does and the language it uses across all domains, you can interpret more accurately what the customer wants and needs – and how best to link them together across defence.?

"We must provide the best solution for our end users" is what drives Thales, which is why I feel so at home here. I also want the absolute best possible solution for the sailors, soldiers, and aviators. If I, or we, ever fall short of that, we’re putting the lives of people already risking a lot at even more risk. I’ve been in situations myself when the tech you’re relying on lets you down and it’s just not good enough. So for me it’s very personal, as it is for a lot of the ex-Forces people I’ve met in Thales.

I get quite reflective during Armed Forces Week (AFW). It makes me stop and think and re-evaluate to make sure I’m still doing the right thing by those currently serving and by my ex-Forces colleagues. AFW is a brilliant way of showing support for the UK military without going overboard, because no one joins the military for accolades. They join out of a sense of duty, or because they want to, or, like me, they’ve had enough of school and want to run away to sea. AFW is a time to celebrate the difficult and challenging job the Armed Forces do in dangerous foreign places, but also for the work they do in the UK that’s rarely seen – highlighted over this last year in the support and leadership they’ve provided throughout the pandemic.

Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Chris Haworth, also an ex-Royal Navy Officer and Head of Maritime Solutions at Thales UK.