Pete Aldridge, John O’Sullivan
Lauded by Missile Defense Agency
WASHINGTON, D.C. (3/19/07)—Edward “Pete” Aldridge, who served as president and CEO of Aerospace from 1992 until 2001, and the late John O’Sullivan, former manager of the corporation’s Missile Defense Division, were honored recently by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) at ceremonies held in Washington, D.C. O’Sullivan posthumously received the Pioneer Technology Award March 19 and Aldridge received the Ronald Reagan Award March 21. The awards were presented in conjunction with the fifth annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference.
Aldridge was honored with the prestigious Reagan Award for his long-time involvement with and support for national defense and national-security interests. The award is named after President Reagan, because he initiated the idea for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), the predecessor of today’s missile defense system, in 1983. Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, presented the award to Aldridge. In addition to Aldridge’s tenure at Aerospace, he has served in many capacities for the government, including undersecretary and secretary of the Air Force, and undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. He retired from government service in May 2003.
O’Sullivan was recognized for his contributions to the development of our national missile defense capability. Pioneer award recipients must have exhibited initiative, creativity, and innovation during their careers and provided outstanding contributions to technology and the advancement of missile defense in the past 24 years. O’Sullivan was involved with missile defense from the formative period of SDI, beginning with the technical expertise he provided for SDI’s Phase One Engineering Team in the 1980s.
O’Sullivan’s major achievement in the field of missile defense technology was his work on the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense program, which offered upper-tier missile defense support for the ground-based Patriot missile system. In 2002 O’Sullivan was named general manager of the Missile Defense Division, which was formed to assist the MDA. O’Sullivan remained committed to the development of U. S. missile defense systems until his death in 2006.
The Aerospace Corporation, based in El Segundo, Calif., is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.
Contact Dave Jonta, 310-336-5041, david.l.jonta@aero.org
