On Wednesday 23rd March 2005 Dr Tim Huxley, Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Security (IISS), Commander Rodney Craig, Maritime Defence Analyst (IISS), and Tim Willbond, Director of Merlin Integrated Solutions Limited talked on "Maritime & Port Security in South East Asia: A Role for Unmanned Systems".
Dr Tim Huxley was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, the University of Wales Aberystwyth and the Australian National University. He has worked for many years in the overlap between strategic studies and Asian area studies, his research focusing particularly on Southeast Asian states' security and defence policies. He has held research and teaching posts at universities in the UK and Australia, and worked for several years at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. Before joining the IISS, he was Reader in South-East Asian Politics and Director of the Centre for South-East Asian Studies at the University of Hull. His recent publications include Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of Singapore (Allen & Unwin, 2000) and Disintegrating Indonesia? Implications for Regional Security (Adelphi Paper 349, July 2002). Since joining the IISS, he has contributed analysis of recent security-related developments in Southeast Asia and Australasia to Strategic Survey 2002/3, The Military Balance 2003/4, the Strategic Comments series.
Commander Rodney Craig is a retired Royal Navy Commander [left active service in 2003], a former Principle Warfare [operations] Officer, and a specialist in anti-surface and anti-air warfare. His Service appointments before leaving the RN were with the Senior British Military Advisor attached to HQ US CENTRAL COMMAND in Tampa, Florida (2002), secondment to the Cabinet Office in the UK Joint Intelligence Organisation (strategic political analyst for Russian Federation and FSU) (1999-2002), and on the UK MOD Central Staff as the Naval operational policy and doctrine lead (1997-99). Earlier appointments have included the UK/Netherlands [NATO] Amphibious Force as Chief of Staff, UK Fleet Headquarters as Commander Above Water Warfare, as well as numerous seagoing appointments including Warship Command.
Tim Willbond formed Merlin Integrated Solutions in 2004 with his co-director, Sara Waddington. The company provides cost effective value added services to companies and governments in the aerospace and wider defence domains, specialising in integrated command and control and autonomous systems and associated technologies. Tim Willbond served for 31 years in the UK Royal Air Force as a Command and Control specialist. His experience covers tactical data link and tactical data system architectures, air command and control requirements definition, command and control systems and space missile warning operations at senior level. He has been in industry for 8 years where he has worked as a business development executive and a programme director with a portfolio covering land and air defence guided weapons and C4I, training systems and, specifically, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems. Up until recently he was, for 6 years, the chairman of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems Trade Association. His experience also covers bidding for complex capability programmes with the UK MoD, the French DGA and the US DoD.
