Roswell, GA — August 31, 2026. PBS Aerospace has named Jan Havránek, former Deputy Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic, as its Chief Government Relations & Strategy Officer.
Havránek will be based in Washington, D.C., where he will lead the company's engagement with the U.S. Congress, the Department of War, allied governments, and NATO institutions as PBS Aerospace continues to expand its manufacturing capacity in the United States and strengthen its role within the American defense industrial base.
The appointment brings a former defense policymaker directly into a manufacturing company at a time when the gap between what defense programs require and what the industrial base can deliver has become one of the Pentagon's most pressing challenges. Havránek has spent almost 20 years on the requirements side of that equation — at the Czech Ministry of Defense, at NATO, and most recently at the Czech Embassy in Washington, where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission.
Two decades at the intersection of policy and capability
Throughout his career, Havránek has worked at the intersection of defense policy, allied requirements, capability development, and transatlantic security.
In Washington, as Deputy Chief of Mission, he held the second-highest position at the Czech Embassy, directing its political, defense, and security agenda and leading engagement with the U.S. administration, Congress, and industry on transatlantic defense cooperation. He previously served as Deputy Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic, where he was responsible for defense strategy, long-term planning, and capability development, and as Policy Adviser in the Office of the NATO Secretary General in Brussels. He holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
What the role will cover
In his new role, Havránek will help shape PBS Aerospace's long-term strategy with respect to the U.S. government and defense sector, deepen relationships across the U.S. national security community, and support the company's engagement with allied governments and NATO institutions. He will also support the strategic alignment of PBS Aerospace's growing U.S. manufacturing capacity with the requirements of American and allied defense programs.
"Jan understands how governments plan, how alliances set requirements, and how industry has to deliver against them. He will help us connect Czech engineering and manufacturing capabilities with the American industrial base and allied programs," said Petr Kádner, Chief Executive Officer of PBS GROUP.
"We have spent decades building propulsion systems for NATO and its allies, and our commitment now runs through American factories and American programs. Jan has worked at the highest levels of transatlantic defense policy and understands both the requirements governments set and the industrial capacity needed to deliver against them. His experience will help us further strengthen the connection between our European engineering capabilities and the American defense industrial base," said William Didden, Owner of PBS GROUP.
"PBS Aerospace is becoming an increasingly important part of the U.S. defense industrial base, and with that comes a responsibility to understand not only what our customers need today, but also what the United States and its allies will need in the years ahead. Jan brings precisely that perspective. He understands how requirements are developed and how government and industry must work together to turn those requirements into real production capacity," said Erin Durham, Chief Executive Officer of PBS Aerospace.
"Every allied government I have worked with is asking industry essentially the same question today: how quickly can it actually produce? I joined PBS Aerospace because the company chose to build manufacturing capacity in the United States before that question became urgent, not after," said Havránek. "The combination of proven European engineering, American manufacturing, and a willingness to invest ahead of demand convinced me that PBS Aerospace can play a significant role in the next generation of U.S. and allied defense programs."
A next phase of U.S. growth
Havránek's appointment comes as PBS Aerospace enters the next phase of its long-term growth in the United States. The company has operated in the U.S. market for more than a decade and significantly expanded its American presence in September 2025 with the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Roswell, Georgia. Built as part of a $20 million investment, the facility expands PBS Aerospace's manufacturing capacity in the United States and enables the company to continue scaling American production of precision turbojet engines.
The facility was built and brought into operation in less than one year and is now actively scaling production to support U.S. Air Force and allied defense programs. In March 2026, PBS Aerospace was awarded a $3 million U.S. Air Force prime contract supporting the Family of Affordable Mass Munitions (FAMM) and other active U.S. Air Force programs — the company's first publicly disclosed prime contract directly with the U.S. government.
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