Boeing Defence chief Kim Gillis to be new defence buying boss
A FORMER senior defence official who has been running US giant Boeing’s lucrative Australian defence business will be the government’s new military purchasing supremo.
Kim Gillis returns to Defence after a four-year stint with Boeing including as managing director of Boeing Defence Australia to head the new Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) that replaces the defunct Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO).
The DMO was a major casualty of the government’s First Principles Review of the defence organisation that called for a more streamlined approach to acquisitions and the annual $12 billion defence purchasing budget.
One of Mr Gillis’s first jobs will be to substantially reduce staff numbers at the 6500-strong organisation. Numbers are tipped to fall by more than 1000 during the next 12 months.
He will also have to implement the first ever fully costed Defence Capability Plan due out this month with the new Defence White Paper.
