FREQUENTIS Defense, Inc. drives defense business growth with appointment of new President, Jay Balakirsky

International safety-critical solutions provider, Frequentis, has appointed its USA Vice President of Sales, Jay Balakirsky, as President Frequentis Defense Inc. in the USA. The move aims to increase Frequentis’ presence in the defense domain in the United States, as well as to foster current and future business relationships with the US Department of Defense (DoD) and prime contractors.

Frequentis Defense, Inc. delivers advanced, mission-specific technology solutions for military customers covering critical areas including voice communication systems (VCS) Remote Digital Towers (RDT), and Foreign Military Sales (FMS). Frequentis has delivered air traffic control (ATC) VCS for use on US Navy aircraft carriers and landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships since 2011 and provides the US Army’s standard ATC VCS with installations at more than 70 US Army airfields since 2015. Frequentis’ remote digital tower (RDT) is a modular system that provides enhanced situational awareness and safety through the use of advanced sensors and sophisticated software; Frequentis is providing the US DoD with the first military RDT system in the United States and the system has undergone Early Operational Assessment.

Frequentis’ recent acquisition of the ATM voice communications and arrival management product business from L3Harris Technologies Inc. includes C4i Pty, based in Melbourne, Australia. Once this transaction is closed Frequentis Defense, Inc. will work closely with the Frequentis Australia subsidiary. In his role as President, Jay will also be the main point of contact for this collaboration into the US.

“Our ongoing relationship with the US DoD capitalizes on internal Frequentis cross-functional collaboration, and in creating solutions that meet the warfighter’s unique requirements. Jay Balakirsky joined Frequentis USA in May 2020 as Vice President Sales and has built a cohesive team focused on our US defense customers. Based on his time with Frequentis, and his deep technology and defense background, we see him as the perfect fit to continue to grow our defense business in the USA, and foster our relationship with the US DoD,” says Norbert Haslacher, CEO, Frequentis AG.

Growth oriented leader
Jay Balakirsky is a proven, growth-oriented executive with more than 25 years of experience leading teams in high-technology companies within the defense industry. Prior to joining Frequentis, Jay was the Vice President of Global Business Development, Unmanned Systems and Integrated Solutions, at FLIR Systems, Inc. where he was responsible for the leadership of a large international team of business development and sales professionals.

Jay also held business development and strategy leadership positions at Northrop Grumman. His roles included the Senior Director of Business Development for the Advanced Defense Services (ADS) division focusing on Training, Cyber, Information Operations, Information Technology, and Systems Engineering domains; Senior Director of Business Development for the Air and Maritime Command and Control Business Unit; and Sector Director of Strategy for the Electronic Systems Sector.

Jay joined Northrop Grumman from Fairchild Defense, where he was the Vice President of Business Development and focused on the development and sales of aircraft related mission planning, data transfer / mass storage, and reconnaissance systems. Jay earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland. He also earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.