Six months-that's the honeymoon period Thales's new chairman and CEO, Luc Vigneron, is giving himself to figure out how to turn around the big defense contractor, which last week reported the worst first-half result since it was formed out of Thomson a decade ago.rnIt's also the window of time Vigneron has to prove the French government and Thales's new controlling industrial shareholder, Dassault Aviation, were right in precipitously ousting well-respected former CEO Denis Ranque, who had labored to build the company into a global player while managing to keep the company free from hostile takeovers and government interference. Ranque was ousted in late May as part of a €1.6-billion ($2.2-billion) Dassault deal to acquire a 26% shareholding in Thales.
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