Director, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
Education
BS – Aerospace Engineering, University of Oklahoma
MS – Aeronautics/Astronautics, MIT
PhD – Optimal & Nonlinear Control and Estimation Theory, Air Force Institute of Technology
Business/Research Background
Dr. Kelly D. Hammett, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is Director, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Dr. Hammett leads the Air Force’s center of expertise for directed energy technology, developing and transitioning research technologies into military systems. The directorate provides pervasive, world-class directed energy and imaging research technologies for users across the Air Force and the Department of Defense. He is responsible for more than 960 military and civilian scientists, engineers, contractors, and support people and an annual budget exceeding $267 million. He manages numerous state-of-the-art research laboratories and testing structures at Kirtland AFB, and several unique facilities, which include the Starfire Optical Range at Kirtland AFB; a testing site at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in Alamogordo, N.M.; and the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site in Hawaii.
Particular Knowledge and Skills
Dr. Hammett has published more than 14 technical papers in national and international journals and conference proceedings, and has been directly responsible for the development and flight test of more than ten first-of-their-kind, world record-setting directed energy technologies. He is a member of the Acquisition Corps, having held multiple Critical Acquisition Positions over the last 12 years. He is also a level three Space Professional, and has commanded an operational space surveillance detachment. Throughout his career, he has led more than 30 successful field demonstrations of optical and directed energy technologies for space surveillance, missile defense, force protection, air superiority, and global precision attack mission needs.