UK AOC Newsletter - May 2006

The 6th International EW/IO Conference, London 2-5 May 2006

Well, we did it! Although there were many dissenters two years ago when we first embarked on the AOC European Conference, it was our turn and we believe that we achieved our aims and showed that the UK Chapter is indeed a flourishing and well run organisation.

In all some 420 people from 16 nations visited the conference; there were 37 exhibitor booths and some 30 speakers. The UK Chapter’s task was to provide all the technical speakers. This it did, obtaining a group of high profile speakers with the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Adm Sir Jonathon Band, opening the conference and the Chief of Defence Intelligence, AM Stuart Peach, closing the proceedings. Other high profile speakers included AVM Gavin Mackay, Senior Military adviser DESO, and Ken Brigden, the Director of the new MoD Counter Terrorism Centre.

Speakers were chosen from those who had generally not been seen before on the Shephard, IQPC and SMI EW circuit and as a result we achieved an excellent cross section of speakers with a great response from our European neighbours. What’s more, all the speakers turned up on the day! There were no no-shows during the week and only a couple of speaker substitutes during the week prior to the conference. So many thanks to all the speakers for giving us an easy time.

Those who attended will no doubt agree that the London Metropole Hilton was a good venue in which to hold the conference but the HQ AOC’s selection of the first week in May, which started with a public holiday, was probably not the best and resulted in less paying attendees than we might have expected. The food was probably some of the best ever encountered at a conference and the final dinner at which AVM Chris Harper presented the Smallwood Trophy to No 47 Sqn, RAF Lyneham, ended the proceedings in magnificent style.

What might we have done better? Firstly, if a week without a public holiday had been selected then we would have been able to attract more attendees, especially as this was also a public holiday throughout Europe. We would also have been able to place the visit to Bletchley Park at the beginning of the week rather than at the end, probably enabling more people to participate. Moreover, had we chosen the QEII Conference Centre, which was originally considered, we would also have been able to hold a classified session. However, our US colleagues only seem to be able to consider Hilton, Marriott or Sheraton hotels and I suspect that they will, as in Rome, have lost a considerable amount of money on the event. Additionally, UK industrial sponsorship was poor, bearing in mind this was supposed to be our flagship event.

However, all in all it was a very successful conference and, to all our dissenters, we won’t have to do it again for a very long time!

AOC UK Chapter Awards

Many congratulations to newly promoted PO(EW) Deacon who graduated top of the class after completing his POEW course at HMS Collingwood on 12 May 2006. "Deacs" is seen here airing his new uniform on divisions when receiving the AOC citation from Major General Cima.

Through Stealth and Vigilance

The RN EW School, part of the Maritime Warfare School, has come up with a splendid new logo featuring a ‘Scholar Crow’. It should start appearing around the globe shortly.

What is going on?

Those of you who have been following events at HQ AOC will note that there have been some stirrings in the Colonies. Ken Krech, the elected President, and his Vice, Vern Luke, have resigned (to all those in the UK, Bob Andrews and Roger Blackburn have no intention of following suit). Why have they resigned? On the face of it, it would appear to have been a “handbags at five paces” sort of thing with arguments over by-laws, the constitution and elections, sadly not what one might have expected from experienced professionals.

Walter Wolf, BAE Systems, has taken over Ken Krech’s remaining term and we wish him well in his endeavours and hope that he can sort out the current complex set of rules by which our HQ is run. We have written to Walter expressing our view that the procedures under which the HQ is run need simplifying and updating. We await his reply which will be posted here in due course.

Corporate Elections

In an attempt to increase the number of voters, this year’s HQ AOC elections will be available on-line from 1 Jul 2006. You should vote if you want to influence the corporate organisation.

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