// Mission solutions · Technical leadership · Defence & government
Product Line Manager — C2 / CUAS / Border Surveillance
Mission solution architecture · Customer-facing technical leadership · Opportunity lifecycle ownership
AI-enabled mission systems · C4ISR workflows · Multi-country technical teams · Government & defence
// Abu Dhabi, UAE · In-region · 15 years across defence, aerospace and government mission systems
// 01 · Profile
I am a customer-facing technical leader with 15 years across defence, aerospace and government mission systems — combining solution-architecture depth with senior stakeholder engagement and commercial judgement.
Today I lead the C2/CUAS and Border Surveillance product lines at a UAE defence technology company in Abu Dhabi, where I own the full technical opportunity lifecycle for government customers: discovery and requirements elicitation, solution design and mission architecture, executive technical briefings, complex system demonstrations to senior military and international delegations, technical proposal authorship, formal validation and acceptance, and transition to operational delivery. Promoted twice in four years.
Before the UAE I spent seven years at Embraer and Saab delivering classified defence programmes — including the F-39 Gripen NG national fighter programme, where I was the primary technical interface between two national prime contractors under bilateral government agreements — and four years leading international product and technical operations teams in Liechtenstein and Austria.
What I do best is translate complex mission requirements and concepts of operation into credible, differentiated, operationally feasible solution approaches — and then defend them in competitive, regulated procurements.
// 02 · What I do
The credibility of a subject-matter expert who can go deep on solution architecture, plus the commercial awareness to shape pursuits, differentiate in competitive procurements, and move customers from concept to commitment.
Based in Abu Dhabi with active government programme engagement and established relationships with senior government and military stakeholders. No relocation, no ramp on regional access.
Directed technical organisations spanning Austria, China and the UK, and bilateral engineering delivery between national primes in Brazil and Sweden. Equally effective managing dispersed reports and building local capability.
Discovery → qualification → solution design → demonstration → proposal → technical validation → transition to delivery. Every stage delivered on real government defence programmes, from CONOPS authorship to fielded systems.
Architected an AI-enabled C4I framework for coordinated autonomous ISR-and-strike demonstrations — object detection and classification, multi-source sensor fusion, real-time telemetry exploitation and operator decision workflows — presented to senior military leadership.
Built repeatable evaluation frameworks that scale a team — including a standardised four-vendor sensor comparison methodology producing trade-off analysis that drove customer selection decisions and informed product direction.
Government customers need more than a product demonstration — they need a technical partner who owns the arc from first conversation to fielded capability. This is the lifecycle I run, and the technical organisation I build to run it at scale.
// 03 · Selected engagements
C4I solution architecture for coordinated autonomous ISR-and-strike mission demonstrations — object detection and classification, multi-source sensor fusion, platform tasking data models, real-time telemetry exploitation and operator decision workflows. Demonstrated to senior military leadership.
Co-authored the operational concept and solution architecture for multi-domain surveillance: sensor coverage modelling, EO/IR integration zones, air and maritime patrol coordination, C2 node topology and intelligence dissemination across multiple operational scenarios.
Led the technical engagement across the full opportunity lifecycle: requirements discovery, multi-sensor design (radar, EO/IR, direction finding, effectors), competitive differentiation in a regulated procurement, capability demonstration, technical validation and entry into service.
A repeatable methodology comparing four vendor systems against defined operational criteria — competitive intelligence, trade-off analysis and customer selection recommendations. Deployed as a containerised analysis tool (Python/Streamlit).
Primary technical interface between two national prime contractors on a classified government-to-government bilateral acquisition; on-site Technical Manager at Saab Linköping for the Transfer of Technology project.
Systems engineering across five aircraft platforms: EW self-protection and weapon aiming (A-1M, ANAC/Brazilian Air Force certified), navigation and mission systems (E2, ANAC/FAA/EASA Safety of Flight certified), tactical communications architecture.
Customer and programme detail is limited to what is already stated in my public CV. Specifics are discussed in person.
// 04 · Writing
Three threads: AI-enabled mission systems; technical leadership of distributed teams; and how defence programmes really get bought and delivered. Short, first-hand, no customer specifics.
A short note on what this site is for, who it is for, and the three threads I intend to follow.
Read →// 05 · Contact
I lead customer-facing technical organisations that turn complex mission requirements into operational capability — across defence, government and intelligence programmes in the Gulf and beyond. The easiest way to reach me is LinkedIn.
Abu Dhabi, UAE · gh.santos@icloud.com