Commodore Jol Woodard

Head of Combat Aviation Programmes British Army Headquarters

joined the Royal Navy in 1991 and streamed Commando Sea King helicopter pilot. His flying career saw joint and multinational operational service afloat and ashore. During 20-years on and around front-line units, he served in the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Libya. This phase culminated in command of 845 Squadron, coincident with the 2011 Libya campaign and sustained operations in Afghanistan. Outside of aviation and in the decade+ since, he has served in staff and command roles spanning advisory, policy, strategy, training and project delivery. He has served in Army and Navy Command HQs, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Trade. He also commanded Britannia Royal Naval College, with responsibility for initial Officer training, the RN’s through-life leadership training and all University Royal Naval Units. Jol became head of the Army’s Combat Aviation Programmes group in October 2021. He is responsible for a £6Bn project delivery portfolio and capability coherence of Combat Aviation development. He is accountable, as Senior Responsible Owner, for New Medium Helicopter and a Foreign Military Sales contract with the US for Extended Range Chinook. Jol is a graduate of the UK’s Advanced Command and Staff College and member of the Royal College of Defence Studies (2020). He is a BSc Hons (Exeter, 1991) and MSc (Leadership, Cranfield, 2021), and holds a PGCert in Strategic Studies (KCL, 2020) and Certificate of Company Directorship (IoD, 2020). He graduated the Major Project leadership Academy in September 2023 from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. He is set to leave the RN in September 2024 after 33 years’ service.