Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) announced the appointment of John H. “Jay” Gibson II as vice president, Special Missions during the Paris Air Show. Gibson will serve as a member of the company’s senior leadership team. In this role Gibson is responsible for the continued development and worldwide expansion of HBC’s Special Missions Product Line (SMPL). Gibson also will continue serving as an active leader in the company’s government affairs regarding special missions, the T-6 program, the AT-6 program and regulatory matters impacting the company’s products and services. Prior to joining HBC in 2009 as vice president of Finance and Contracts for the Government Business organization, Gibson served as the Assistant Secretary of the United States Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller) in Washington, D.C., where he was the principal advisor to the Secretary on financial management matters. In addition, over the last year, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation’s (HBC) Global Customer Support (GCS) organization has been building up services for global government mission programs to support their requirements for Hawker and Beechcraft products. This support includes a service center in Baghdad, Iraq, maintaining six Iraqi Air Force King Air turboprops with 12 full-time technicians, as well as opportunities to become the service provider for future and existing T-6 and AT-6 international programs. As HBC’s role and continued expansion grows, the company recently renamed this division to Global Mission Support. “Global Mission Support more clearly conveys the importance Hawker Beechcraft places in supporting the requirements of our government customers,” said Christi Tannahill, HBC vice president, GCS. “Their unique missions call for robust aircraft platforms and equally robust product support. Global Mission Support was established to meet these unique and varied service requirements.”