Garry Owen is Director of Sales Engineering within CIS at Airbus Defense and Space, Inc. (ADSI). He is responsible for providing SKYNET Subject Matter Expert (SME) support to the US Secure Communications Business Development and Sales Team. His responsibilities include preparation of high level engineering solutions for all US Government Skynet marketing and sales activities through ADSI’s Skynet reseller network in the US and Canada.
Prior to joining ADSI, Mr. Owen worked for Airbus Defence and Space in the UK for over 12 years, beginning with the creation of the Skynet 5 Private Finance Initiative in 2003, delivering a range of Skynet based services to the UK MoD. Mr Owen was instrumental in creating and Order Handling and Fulfilment cell during the transfer of responsibilities from the Royal Air Force to the then Paradigm Secure Communications, whilst continuing to deliver legacy services required for Operation TELIC, the UK participation in the Iraq War. Mr Owen was appointed as Program Manager for direct sale of SKYNET bandwidth to approved partner nations, foremost of which were the United States, Australia and Canada. In this capacity he supported the development of Skynet 5 configuration planning prior to launch of Skynet 5A in Kourou, which he attended. For nine years he supported UK MoD as the SKYNET SME for activities relating to the bilateral MoU between the United States and United Kingdom and supported NATO’s NSP2K program from 2004 to 2014.
Prior to joining Airbus, Mr. Owen served for 26 years in the Royal Air Force, in various Radar and Communications engineering roles both in the UK and overseas. In 1997, he was awarded a Commander
British Forces Hong Kong Commendation for his contribution to the planning and withdrawal of British Forces prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China. Prior to his retirement from the Royal Air Force in 2002, he completed a two year deployment to Canada, managing communications capabilities in support of Royal Air Force Operations throughout North America.