Codan appoints former Chief of Army Rick Burr to support sovereign defence capability growth: Global technology group Codan has appointed former Chief of Army Lieutenant General (Retired) Rick Burr AO DSC MVO as Strategic Advisor, reinforcing its focus on expanding sovereign defence capability in Australia and across allied markets. Codan is one of Australia’s largest exporters of defence and communications technology, with a global footprint supplying mission-critical systems to military, security and emergency services customers. The appointment comes as Australia sharpens its focus on sovereign industrial capability under the National Defence Strategy 2026, with increasing emphasis on Australian-designed and manufactured technologies that can operate in contested environments. Lieutenant General Burr brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across the Australian Defence Force and allied operations, including serving as Chief of Army from 2018 to 2022. His career includes senior roles across Indo-Pacific and United States alliance structures, including as Deputy Commanding General of United States Army Pacific. In his role as Strategic Advisor, Lieutenant General Burr will support Codan’s engagement across Australian and Five Eyes defence initiatives, contributing to major programs and strengthening partnerships in mission-critical environments.
SPA Australia promotes Anthony Ween to lead its Defence & Analytics practice: Systems Planning & Analysis (SPA) Australia has announced the promotion of Anthony Ween to National Lead – Defence & Analytics. Ween brings more than 30 years’ experience across Defence, national security, operations analysis and capability decision support. Widely regarded as a leading Australian practitioner in specialised defence analytics, he has built a distinguished career, having held senior roles at the Department of Defence and Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). Ween has worked for SPA Australia for three years having previously served as Chief Analyst and Director – Integrated Force, Land and Air, where he led multidisciplinary teams delivering advanced modelling, analysis and decision support to government and Defence clients. His work has supported complex force design, strategic planning and capability prioritisation decisions across some of Australia’s most sensitive national security programs. Ween has played a significant role in advancing Defence’s force design and prioritisation approaches, including contributing to the design and implementation of the One Defence Capability System. He is also the inaugural industry lead for the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) Australian Defence Community of Practice and was awarded a Secretary and Chief of the Defence Force Commendation for his contribution to the First Principles Review implementation team. In his new role, Ween will lead SPA Australia’s growing Analytics portfolio, which delivers advanced modelling, analysis and decision support along with deep expertise across all defence domains from undersea, surface, land, air, space and cyber to joint enablers such as logistics, command and control and national support.  Integrating these specialty domain skills with military operations research, systems analysis and engineering helps to inform high-stakes government and Defence decision-making.
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