English 
Ukrainian Evolve Dynamics appoints former Thales UK CEO as Chairman
British UAV manufacturer Evolve Dynamics is proud to announce the appointment of Victor Chavez CBE as the new Chairman of its Board.
Mr Chavez, a former CEO and Chairman of Thales UK, brings with him a wealth of experience across the defence, aerospace and security sectors, having previously worked at the highest levels of UK government and alongside UK MOD on defence industrial strategy, capability management, technology and acquisition. In his new role, Mr Chavez will support Evolve Dynamics’ continued growth and expansion into new global markets and territories.
It is now ten years since Evolve Dynamics’ Founder & CEO Mike Dewhirst began his support for Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. At that time, Mike utilised his passion for, and deep knowledge of, technology to provide sUAS support to the Ukrainian military. The Surrey-based company now employs over 70 people and counts among its global customer base all the services of the UK MoD – the Royal Navy, the British Army and the RAF. Evolve Dynamics has recently incorporated in Ukraine, where it continues to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
A former board member of Engineering UK and president of techUK, Mr Chavez is well-placed to support the development of Evolve Dynamics’ technology and products, which incorporates a range of UAVs for surveillance and reconnaissance operations across the defence, security and infrastructure industries. The company has this year launched its new SKY MANTIS 2 platform, an all-weather UAS with interchangeable payloads ideally suited to GPS-denied and EW contested environments. Currently launching to market is its new 239g long-range UAS called Nano, with onboard Edge AI object detection and classification, and wind resistance of up to 35 mph / 56 km/h. Also in the pipeline are a Drone as First Responder (DFR) project with funding from Innovate UK for a “drone in a box” – ARDEC (Autonomous Remote Deployment Enclosure Complex), and a new capability for operating UAS Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
Victor commented on the announcement:
"I am delighted to join the board of Evolve Dynamics and excited to contribute to their future growth and success. Their track record of developing innovative technologies and systems is impressive and their growing range of sovereign UK products and technologies increases their ability to address complex and challenging use cases."
Mike Dewhirst commented on the announcement:
''We are humbled and honoured to welcome Victor as our new Chairman at this exciting time in our business’ evolution. Victor’s decades of experience and knowledge of the defence, security and UAS industries will bring enormous value to Evolve Dynamics as we forge ahead with developing ground-breaking technologies across a spectrum of UAV products for new and existing customers in the defence and security industries"
