By Vincent J. Curtis
Thaddeus Zeglen is thought by some hockey experts to be the slickest winger on the Esprit de Corps hockey team – The Commandos. When he isn’t playing the role of Auston Matthews for all that is right and holy in hockey, Thaddeus Zeglen – or Thad as he is known to his teammates – is an Account Manager for Military Avionics in Canada for Collins Aerospace, a position he has played since October, 2019.
Like many companies in the Defence sector, the Collins Aerospace of today is the product of many, many mergers and acquisitions. In November, 2018, Rockwell Collins was acquired by United Technologies Corporation (which was formed by the merger of Pratt & Whitney and Otis Elevator), and merged its UTC Aerospace Systems with the Rockwell Collins acquisition to form Collins Aerospace. Then, in April 2020, United Technologies merged with Raytheon Corporation, making Collins Aerospace a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Following this?
The merger of Raytheon and United Technologies created one of the largest aerospace and defence companies in the world, with annual sales in excess of $56 Billion. The new company expects to introduce breakthrough technologies at an accelerated pace across high-value areas such as hypersonics, directed energy, avionics and cybersecurity.
Collins has been a part of the Canadian defence industry for well over 50 years. Collins currently employs roughly 1,500 people from coast-to-coast, working within the domains of what are called internally Avionics, Interiors, Mechanical and Mission Systems. The Avionics group, to which Thad reports, has recently grown beyond integrated flight decks and military avionics it once offered, due to the recent series of mergers, and have added to their portfolio products from legacy companies – Rosemount, Kidde, Goodrich and Hamilton Sundstrand.
Collins Canada proudly says, “Across Canada, Collins has a footprint on all aircraft flown by the RCAF, providing fully integrated cockpit solutions to many of [the] Search and Rescue, ISR, Transport and Rotary Wing fleets. As the RCAF now embarks on on-boarding new members to its fleet, including both the MAISR and FWSAR aircraft, Collins’ Pro Line Fusion Avionics Suite will feature prominently in the delivery of world class capabilities and aircraft to Canada.”
“On the commercial side, Collins in Canada is also working with OEMs and key MRO’s such as Viking, Bombardier, IMP and others to deliver integrated Avionics solutions. This Aviation expertise and breadth across both military and commercial users, domains and aircraft enables Collins to provide unique solutions to Canada in terms of innovation, investment and capability. The recent amalgamation with Raytheon enhances our expertise and capability depth to provide additional multi-intelligence sensors, tailored IFF capability, fire protection and comprehensive integrated mission functionality to provide additional value and capability to our military and commercial partners and ultimately defines why Collins has been a trusted partner of the Aviation community in Canada for well over 50 years… and counting.”
Thad took on the position as Account Manager for Military Avionics in Canada in October, 2019. He is responsible for “identifying, analyzing and developing opportunities of relevance for our Avionics Business Unit both domestically (typically with the RCAF and other GoC Departments) and internationally.”
Thad sees his role as a customer and country advocate responsible for “leveraging the breadth of our avionics and mission specific portfolio of capabilities to deliver reliable, integrated and highly operationally capable flight decks to our Governmental and Commercial customers in Canada.”
Thad says that his role as an Account Manager within Military Avionics and Helicopters “really boils down to working across internal and external stakeholders to provide value through local operational and programmatic insight. This enables Collins to deliver customized avionic solutions to reliably meet the needs of the RCAF and industry partners exporting modified military forward or retrofit aircraft globally. In a way, I act as the bridge of information between Canada and our company leveraging strong relationships with local partners.”
Thad continued, “Over the past 10 years at Collins, the relationships developed with our industry partners and the RCAF/DND have proven the most rewarding and are critical to the value any business development professional can deliver for their organization and customer base. Otherwise, I consider it my mandate to continue to tell the “story” of Collins in Canada. Seeing as Collins touches Avionics, Aerostructures, Interiors, Mechanical systems (think landing systems, propellers), Information Management, Mission Systems and domains in aviation I am excited about how this story can be applied to Canada and our military customer’s operational context. At Collins, we focus on “Redefining Aerospace” and I am excited to play my part in that goal reflecting Canada’s interest and perspective.”
Expanding on the role of his particular division, Thad said, “The Military Avionics and Helicopters portfolio within Collins is focused on providing integrated flight decks, mission computers, navigation and communication systems – including V/UHF and HF software defined radios, data links, direction finders, weather radars, autopilot, displays and flight controls. The objective of the Military Avionics and Helicopters team is to provide tailored and integrated mission equipment with avionics and display systems that improve military aircraft pilots and mission operators’ situational awareness, aircraft safety and overall mission capability and capacity allowing them to conduct their mission set most effectively. A Collins integrated flight deck solution such as Pro Line Fusion® or Flight2™ in particular are used today on a variety of RCAF and international military aircraft integrating an assortment of communication, navigation, identification sensors and technologies that allow for enhanced functionality and interoperability with other CAF services and their allies. In a sense our group brings together disparate pieces of information and overlays mission specific information on top of our renowned commercial avionic solutions installed on many of the aircraft we all fly in for personal or business travel. Bringing together these market segments, Collins strategically leverages both innovation and best practices from our commercial and military avionics organizations to deliver configurable and trusted avionics across Collins extensive Aerospace user base.”
Thad maintains that Collins Aerospace has long been a trusted partner of the RCAF, as “we have Collins equipment flying aboard every platform in the fleet.” Thad expects that Collins will evolve its relationship with the RCAF. “In leveraging our broad and deep military avionics portfolio we are increasingly being viewed as a strategic partner for major programs identified in SSE such as CMMA, STTC, RPAS, the Twin Otter replacement as well as many sustainment and pan RCAF fleet initiatives such as MFATMA and (V/UHF) Communications upgrades. In essence we hope to transition into a lead player on many of these programs, having a “seat at the table” to ensure Canada is well equipped and flexible in terms of its operations and interoperability.”
Aside from his skill at stick-handling, Thad finds himself “on the go, spending time with friends, camping around my hometown of Sudbury or playing recreational sports as COVID policies of the day permit.”
Recently, he has added paddle boarding and boxing to his resume as a way to relax and “get away from the day-to-day action at Collins. On a more personal level, I also spend my time supporting the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Cadet Programs of Canada in various events and fundraising activities as well as counselling my fellow Leaf fans through many years of disappointing game 7 losses.”
