President Trump has nominated Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory L. Masiello to steer the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon introduced June 20. If confirmed by the Senate, he would succeed Air Power Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, who has led this system since 2022.
Masiello, who now heads the Protection Contract Administration Company (DCMA), is a former enlisted Marine and a naval aviator who flew the UH-1N and VH-3 presidential transports, and hung out because the V-22 Joint Program Supervisor. From 2013-2014 he was the senior army deputy to Frank Kendall, who on the time was undersecretary of protection for acquisition, expertise and logistics. He then moved on to turn into the F-35 Joint Program Director for Comply with-On growth. Earlier than taking cost at DCMA he was program government officer for the Navy’s airborne anti-submarine warfare packages.
DCMA is answerable for contract complince and manages testing and acceptance, roles that contain oversight of F-35’s producer, Lockheed Martin, and its engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney.
Below the Joint Strike Fighter program’s construction, which alternates roles for the Division of the Navy and Division of the Air Power, the JPO will now report back to the Air Power acquisition government. Prior to now, the deputy program supervisor was additionally of the identical service because the service acquisition government, however that follow was deserted a number of years in the past, in favor of a civilian in that place.
Masiello can be the primary naval officer to steer this system in a number of years. Schmidt was the second consecutive USAF officer to run the JPO, succeeding Lt. Gen. Eric Fick. That was the primary time in this system’s historical past when officers from the identical service adopted one another within the place.
Throughout Schmidt’s tenure, the F-35 program wrestled with the transition from the essential fighter to the preliminary levels of the Block 4 upgraded model. He presided over the beginning of the engine core improve program—chosen after prolonged debate about utilizing new adaptive engines—and the Tech Refresh 3, which is the {hardware} and software program foundation for the 80 or so enhancements that may include Block 4. He additionally negotiated the Lot 18 and 19 contracts—not but definitized—and managed this system via a yearlong maintain on deliveries as Lockheed Martin and the check enterprise labored to clear the TR-3.
