Weapons pitch Day

Maj. Gen. Cameron G. Holt is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Contracting, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Washington, D.C. He is responsible for all aspects of contracting relating to the acquisition of weapon systems, logistics, and operational support for the Air Force and provides contingency contracting support to the geographic combatant commanders. He leads a highly skilled staff of mission-focused business leaders supporting warfighters through $825 billion of Space, Global Power/Reach and Information Dominance programs. He also oversees the training, organizing and equipping of a workforce of some 8,000 contracting professionals who execute programs worth more than $65 billion annually.

Prior to this assignment, General Holt served as the Commander, Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He led an over 700 personnel agency with a total contract portfolio of $55 billion. In this capacity, he directed enterprise-wide installation strategic sourcing efforts for the Air Force and oversaw $9.1 billion in annual obligations for mission and installation requirements.

General Holt received his commission through the ROTC at the University of Georgia in 1990. He has experience in the full spectrum of acquisition and contract management across four major commands, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, U.S. Air Forces Central Command and the Joint Staff. General Holt is a joint qualified officer with multiple deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins is the Program Executive Officer for Weapons and Director of the Armament Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. He is responsible for the planning and execution of all life cycle activities for air-delivered munitions, including the Advance Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition; Joint Programmable Fuze, Miniature Air Launched Decoy; and Small Diameter Bomb. His $92 billion portfolio also includes numerous other legacy weapons and ammunition; combat training systems; threat emitters for test and training purposes; and aerial targets including the QF-16 and BQM-167A.

Brig. Gen. Collins entered the Air Force in 1993, receiving his commission through the ROTC program at Clarkson University. His acquisition, space, test, operations and staff assignments have encompassed air-to-air missiles, electronic countermeasures, space, radar, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, nuclear, fighter and bomber systems. He has served in numerous program management and senior-leader positions including Program Manager, Wideband Global Satellite Communications, Block 1 Program, Deputy Commander of the Wideband SATCOM Group, Commander, Space Based Infrared System Space Squadron, Senior Materiel Leader and Deputy Director for the Infrared Space Systems Directorate, and the Remote Sensing Systems Directorate. Brig. Gen. Collins has also served in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, overseeing the department's Airborne ISR, Space and Special Programs. He is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He also holds master’s degrees from Florida State University, Air University and National Defense University.

Prior to assuming his current duties, Brig. Gen. Collins served as the Program Executive Officer for Fighters and Bombers, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. He was responsible for development, production, fielding, sustainment and modernization of the fighters and bombers portfolio, which includes the A-10, A-29, B-1, B-2, B-52, F-15, F-16, F-22 and special programs. He was also responsible for organizing, training and equipping the F-35 System Program Office.

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Colonel Garry A. Haase is the Commander and Director for the Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Leading the Munitions Directorate, he provides administrative and technical guidance to a staff of more than 794 military, civilian and contractors developing air-launched conventional munitions technology. The Munitions Directorate leads the discovery, development and integration of affordable war-fighting conventional air-launched weapon technologies for the U.S. Air Force. The activities of the Munitions Directorate include research on missile seekers, navigation and control, image processing, munitions integration, warheads, fuzing, explosives and technology assessment methodology.

Colonel Haase entered the Air Force in 1993 as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri.  He served in a broad variety of engineering positions performing technical intelligence, space launch, flight test engineering, and advanced munitions research duties.  He also held staff assignments as an action officer and program element monitor in the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisitions) Directorate of Special Programs and while deployed as a joint action officer with the Office of Security Cooperation—Iraq.  More recently as a program manager, he served as Materiel Leader for Small Diameter Bomb I, Chief of V-22 Joint Development, and as acting Senior Materiel Leader/System Program Manager of the CV-22. Prior to his current assignment, he served as Chief, Current Operations Division, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command.

Colonel Haase holds Department of Defense Acquisition Corps Level III certifications in Program Management, Test and Evaluation as well as Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering.

Colonel Kenneth P. “Ken” Kuebler is currently serving as the Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Fixed Wing Programs, HQ US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), MacDill AFB, FL. He is responsible for developing, producing, testing, modifying, fielding, and supporting Special Operations Forces (SOF)-unique fixed wing aircraft and sub-systems, equating to over 100 programs and projects worth $1.7 billion in 2017. SOF aviation capabilities include AC-130 and MC-130 variants, MQ-1C, MQ-9, CV-22, U-28, MC-12, C-145, C-146, other remotely piloted vehicles and precision guided munitions.

Colonel Kuebler received his commission from the United States Air Force Officer Training School in July 1998 as a distinguished graduate. He has held a number of Air Force space and weapon system acquisition and operational positions, and positions on wing, Air Staff, Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command, and the Joint Staff staffs.

Prior to his current assignment, Col Kuebler excelled as the Director of the Air Force Portfolio Division at the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) in Crystal City, Virginia. He is the Air Force’s advocate and single point-of entry into the DCMA Enterprise covering more than 48,000 contracts, 43 Air Force Acquisition Category I & II Programs valued at more than $2 trillion supporting Total Life Cycle Systems Management. Colonel Kuebler leads and coordinates the flow of information between the DCMA Enterprise and Senior Officials within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Service Acquisition Executives, Program Executive Offices, Designated Acquisition Officials, and Program Managers.

Colonel Kuebler served as the Program Management Branch Chief, Environment Operations Division, Deputy Directorate Joint Training, Joint Force Development Directorate (J7), the Joint Staff, in Suffolk, Virginia. He was responsible for developing and executing Joint Staff training policy, modeling and simulation integration, Foreign Military Sales support, and the execution of contracts totaling more than $660 million. Other previous assignments include Materiel Leader, Small Diameter Bomb II, Armament Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and Program Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Special Operations Research and Development Center, Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

Dr. Paul L. Ret is the Chief of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Armament Directorate’s Systems Development Division.  He leads efforts to conceive, develop, and demonstrate the next generation disruptive armament capabilities.  In this role, Dr. Ret is responsible for ensuring that the future Air Force armament portfolio presents a disruptive challenge to deter, engage, and defeat US adversaries.

Dr. Ret has served as the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Armament Directorate’s Director of Engineering where he initiated and implemented strategic technical initiatives to rapidly deliver increased technical capability to the warfighter.  He directed, developed, and supervised (first and second level) 600+ engineering workforce to implement these initiatives and ensure that weapons operational safety, suitability and effectiveness (OSS&E) and cybersecurity were maintained across an $82B portfolio consisting of 95 activities including seven ACAT I programs.

Dr. Ret has previously held multiple technology leadership roles within the Air Force Research Laboratory including Assistant Chief Scientist, Division Technical Director and Branch Chief where he successfully guided and executed materials and manufacturing research and development strategies and efforts totaling over $1B.  Dr. Ret has personally completed over 100 failure analysis investigations affecting all major aircraft (F-22, F-16, F-15, Predator, C-130, and C-17) in the USAF inventory, including providing subject matter expertise support to over 20 USAF class A mishap investigations.