Helen Wheatley

Helen joined the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) in 1982 as their first female Engineering Apprentice. She has since worked in various departments of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). She joined the Helicopters OC in October 2022 to look beyond the current Rotary Wing Programme of Record and work with our Front Line Commands and Fin Mil Cap to refresh the RW Strategy – a real ‘Shaping’ role! In May 24, she was temporarily promoted to Head Hels 2, to deliver the Hels 2 portfolio and lead the transition of those teams into the new DE&S Operating Model. Her Helicopter appointments marked 10 years in the Air Environment. Previous appointments included being the DE&S Engineering Function Manager for Air and Space, supporting the 1200 professional engineers working in those domains. Prior to that she was the Programme Manager for the UK/Qatar Typhoon Programme, delivering the Government-to-Government agreements around the 2022 [soccer] World Cup; Portfolio Manager for the RAF's training aircraft, included support for the Hawk Aircraft fleet used by the 'Red Arrows'; and Programme Manager for the UK's tactical Unmanned Aircraft (UAVs). Previous DE&S roles included Systems Engineer in the MOD Counter-IED team (dealing with the IED threat in Afghanistan) and technology lead on the Astute Class submarine programme. Infact, having completed 5 assignments in the Air Environment, Helen can now claim to have worked in every Domain in DE&S, from Land based weapons systems to Communications and ISTAR; nuclear submarines to fast jets, helicopters and minature dones! Along the way, she has undertaken roles in policy and strategic leadership and has continued a life-long learning plan to develop herself and her teams. In 2012, Helen completed a Masters Degree in Systems Engineering. She has achieved both Chartered Engineer(CEng) and Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) status and now mentors and coaches others in both disciplines.