Eric Dalbiès, Executive Vice President, Strategy and M&A at Safran, has been named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the group’s solid rocket propulsion specialist, Herakles. He retains his current position as Safran Executive Vice President for Strategy and M&A.

Dalbiès, 48, joined Group company Société Européenne de Propulsion (SEP, now part of Snecma) in 1992, starting as system design engineer with the advanced engines department, then chief engineer for the HM7 and Vinci rocket engines.

In 2005 he was named head of rocket engine programs at Snecma. He moved to fellow Group company Turbomeca in 2005, as head of information technology, before being named deputy to the chairman and head of the Safran+ improvement initiative in 2008. He added the title of Vice President for Information Technology in 2011. In 2013 he was named Safran Vice President, Strategy. He was named Safran Executive Vice President, Strategy and M&A, in 2015.

Dalbiès holds degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique (1987) and Sup'Aéro (1992) engineering schools.

He succeeds Philippe Schleicher, who was recently appointed to another position at Safran. Philippe Schleicher joined the Group in 1980 and was named head of Herakles in 2012, after successfully overseeing the merger of SME (SNPE Matériaux Energétiques, a specialist in energetic materials) and Snecma Propulsion Solide (producer of solid rocket motors for missiles and launch vehicles).