Naval Group appoints Lilian Brayle as new head of Australian Future Submarine Program

Global shipbuilding firm Naval Group has appointed Lilian Brayle as Executive Vice-President for its Australian Future Submarine Program, replacing former head Jean-Michel Billig.

Brayle will join Naval Group on 31 May and will be a member of the company’s Executive Committee.

Brayle has significant experience in managing international industrial projects, particularly in the defence sector in France and Australia.

He will be in charge of managing the teams in both countries to deliver the program on cost and on schedule, and to engage the Australian supply chain to deliver Naval Group’s commitment to spend at least 60% of the contract value in Australia.

The new Head of Program will have the support of all Naval Group teams in France and Australia, and in particular of John Davis, Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Head of the program and David Peever, Chairman of Naval Group Australia’s board.

For the past five years, Naval Group has been fully committed to working with the Commonwealth of Australia for the development of an Australian sovereign submarine capability and the production in Australia of twelve regionally superior Attack-class oceanic submarines.

The incoming EVP is set to bring Naval Group his experience in the management of large-scale international programs and his knowledge of Australia.

A dual citizen of France and Australia, his experience includes roles in Airbus, Safran Group, Turbomeca & Microturbo Australia, and French firm Messier-Dowty.

He joined Airbus Group in 2011 to head up support and services for ATR, a Franco-Italian regional aviation company.

In 2015, he was appointed Head of In-Service Support for the new A400M European military transport aircraft, where he defined and deployed the support strategy for this major program to contribute to the operational availability of the aircraft.

In 2019, he joined Nexter Group as Head of Support and Customer Services for Nexter Systems.

For his latest appointment at Naval Group, Brayle will take over the executive management of the company’s Australian Future Submarine Program.

Source: Naval Group