Specialist military vehicle manufacturer North Defence has invested in two significant hires, as the £25m firm prepares to announce its next wave of innovation.
With vast autonomous technology expertise, Greg Homewood has joined as chief engineer. An accomplished defence sector designer with 15 years’ industry experience, he most recently led a robotics team on UGV projects for a major prime contractor.
Operating from North Defence’s West Yorkshire facilities, he will play a critical role in the development and deployment of next-generation technology for the modern battlefield.
Known for innovation with empathy – and with strong military DNA running throughout the existing team – North Defence has also welcomed esteemed British Army veteran Russell Bailey, as chief defence liaison officer.
Russell joined the army as a private soldier in 1989 and, having moved up through the ranks, commissioned to officer in 2013. Assigned to multiple missions including Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, he retired as major earlier this summer, as second in command of Old College at the Royal Army Military Academy Sandhurst.
Core to his new role is continued dialogue with the stakeholders North Defence is here to serve, especially on the front-line. Russell will also drive deeper collaboration between the firm’s UK manufacturing hubs and Luxembourg centre of innovation excellence, where he will work closely with Ana Vale Lopez who already heads up that operation.
Elaborating on this investment in people, North Defence’s founder and CEO Oliver North said: “A couple of months ago, I was invited to NATO HQ in Brussels, where one of the biggest topics of conversation was agility. There’s a growing realisation that in the defence ecosystem, size matters, and SMEs like ours have a huge role to play.
“We have built this company so that we are not only adaptable, but ready for anything. To maintain this position though, we must invest – to stand still would be to get left behind. We design vehicles for the most volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments, so the capability, integrity and ambition of our team has to be unrivalled.”
Commenting on why he joined North Defence, Russell added: “Oliver may have left the army many years ago, but psychologically he still works with his beret on. He and the team are so close to what’s happening, with such a constant hunger to adapt, that they’ve become critical to the mission.
“It’s my role to build on that, even more. North Defence isn’t only interested in how military technology must evolve functionally, the team cares about how people feel too. So from understanding the needs of strategic decision makers to serving soldiers, we will never stand still.”
The culture of North Defence has long been a priority for Oliver.
“Wind back the clock and Greg and Russell are two local guys from humble beginnings, who have each progressed to the top of their game in their respective careers,” he said. “But ego is left at the door. We have a culture where we want to learn from each other, and do well for each other – ‘family’ isn’t just a cliche, but a reality. In fact, Greg is the brother of our chief technical officer, Luke Homewood, so a passion for defence really must be in their genes!”
Completing the people announcements, Oscar North – son of founder Oliver – has graduated as a production engineer, having begun his apprenticeship with the group two years ago.
Offering a concluding thought, Oliver said: “From day one, Oscar started at ‘the bottom’ with humility and respect, knowing he was going to be mentored by a world-class team of peers. When I see the position he’s earned himself within the team, ‘proud’ doesn’t even start to cover it!”
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