About FAC

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About FAC

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Our Mission Statement :

'Enabling members to improve their business winning opportunities and capabilities’

FAC aims to make a significant contribution to sustaining a prosperous aerospace and defence industry in the UK by :

Being a leading aerospace and defence trade body
Supporting and championing the cause of the aerospace and defence industry
Providing a brokering service to help members win new business
Developing for all relevant sectors an effective contract winning and collaborative working mechanism to win and undertake work
Being recognised internationally as a key portal for investment and business winning aerospace and defence opportunities in the UK particularly for SMEs
Being recognised by academia and research establishments as a key route to the aerospace and defence industry
Being accepted by Government and the industry as the principal voice of SMEs in the aerospace and defence industries in the UK
Working with appropriate partners to establish an effective learning and skills programme to attract and retain people in the aerospace and defence industries and to develop the skills of the existing and future workforce.
Developing funding sources for FAC and its members including membership services, consultancy and winning and managing Government projects/initiatives
Establishing good communications with the media to promote the aerospace and defence industries.

The FAC

FAC (Farnborough Aerospace Consortium) is a business-winning trade association with national and international members. It is the largest and most established aerospace and defence trade body in the UK, providing support to some 300 companies located in southern England – the heart of the UK’s aerospace industry.

Through its unrivalled experience and expertise, FAC acts as an enabler for business between large primes and the supply chain, particularly Small to Medium Size Enterprises. It enables its members to become more competitive and increase their market share through facilitating local and international trading, technology transfer and development, sharing of best practice and training plus lobbying at national level on key issues facing the sector.

The FAC recognises the consequences and impact of globalisation. It is committed to the long-term strategic growth of the aerospace and defence sectors, ensuring the region continues to excel on a global scale.

Our Chief Executive Officer

JOHN COPLEY

Chief Executive

John Copley was born in 1967. After graduating with a first-class honours degree in Chemical Physics from Bristol University, he joined the UK Ministry of Defence as a fast stream graduate trainee. Initial postings were spent gaining a technical grounding in the research establishments before moving onto postings in Defence Intelligence and policy secretariats. During 1994-1995 he was Assistant Secretary to the Minister for Defence Procurement and during 1995-1996 he undertook a secondment as a project manager within the UK’s Rail Privatisation project.

Following attendance at the Joint Service Defence College, he was seconded to the French Ministry of Defence’s Procurement Agency in Paris before leaving the Ministry of Defence to join Thales in September 2000 as Deputy Director Defence Strategy in the group HQ’s corporate strategy department in Paris. Here he led the development of the group’s strategy for the UK.

In July 2001, he assumed the role of UK Strategy Director as focal point for the development and implementation of the group’s UK strategy. John also acted as Thales’ shareholder representative on the board of Airtanker Ltd, leading up to the award of preferred bidder for the UK’s largest PFI programme, the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft.

In February 2004, John made the transition into general management, assuming the position of Managing Director, Thales Missile Electronics Ltd, a self-contained legal entity of approximately 250 staff, £50m turnover, with full P&L responsibility for all aspects of the company, including manufacturing operations, sales and marketing, programme management, finance, HR and research.

In September 2007, John took up the position of Vice President, UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) Systems Business Line. This role carried global responsibility for the general management and strategic development of a £125m turnover product sector, including the £800m Watchkeeper prime contract, service provision of UAVs into Iraq and Afghanistan, the Sea King Mk7 Airborne Surveillance and Control helicopter prime contract and the development of export opportunities globally.

In November 2008 John took up the position of CEO of the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium - the regional trade body for the aerospace and defence industry in the South East of England, with some 300 member companies.