Former Senior US Department of Defense Official Joins Rheinmetall Group to Focus on Corporate Development in the USA

Hedger last served as Chief of Staff to former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, who oversaw the annual development of the more than $600 billion US defense budget, and as Deputy Chief of Staff to then US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Hedger also served under current US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to assist with the transition of the new Trump Administration team at the Pentagon. Prior to this tenure, Hedger was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs and confirmed into that role by the US Senate in 2015. He previously served as an assistant to President Obama in the White House and for nearly ten years as an aide in the US Congress. He spent five years on active duty in the US Army including a peacekeeping tour in Kosovo and combat tour in Iraq. He holds a degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a Non-Resident Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Rheinmetall AG, publicly listed and based in Düsseldorf, Germany, is an integrated technology group and market leader in the areas of environmentally friendly mobility and threat-appropriate security technology. The group’s Defence sector is Europe’s foremost supplier of army technology. Rheinmetall Defence products set the global standard for excellence in a wide array of disciplines: from vehicle, force protection and weapon systems to infantry equipment and air defence, and from network-enabled warfare capabilities to electro-optics and simulation technology.

Rheinmetall Defence has valued partnerships with major US defense companies including Day & Zimmermann, General Dynamics and Raytheon and operates several US subsidiaries. Rheinmetall is a provider of world class munitions to the US military including 40mm ammunition for the US Marine Corps and US Army and 25mm ammunition for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Rheinmetall is the designer of the smooth bore 120mm main gun on the US M1 Main Battle Tank. The increasing US defense budget and challenges in the global security environment provide expanding opportunities for Rheinmetall to provide its world class defence and security products in the US marketplace.

In fiscal year 2016, Rheinmetall Defence’s some 11,000 employees generated annual sales of €2,946 million.