Daniel Cuchet has been appointed senior vice president of engineering and head of design organisation at regional aircraft manufacturer ATR stepping up from his latest position as the business’s chief engineer.

Cuchet also joins ATR’s executive committee, reporting directly to chief executive Nathalie Tarnaud Laude.

Cuchet began his career in 1991 as technical director in a high-tech aerospace start-up company specialised in military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Early 2003, he joined Airbus Group as Chief Engineer/Head of Design within the Defence & Space division and worked for four years in Germany.

Cuchet oversaw a 10t-class UAV, Eurodrone, jointly developed by Airbus, Dassault Aviation and Leonardo for German, French, Italian and Spanish end-users. Then, he continued his career in France as head of programme management for all UAVs military programmes inside the group before joining the commercial division as head of military derivatives. As part of this role, Cuchet was mainly involved with the development of the successful A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) programme.