Kevin M. Muckerheide is the Deputy Director of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), headquartered at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. The complex employs more than 3,000 people and comprises more than 68 aerospace test facilities spanning eight states. AEDC’s capabilities are unmatched in span and scope supporting development of the Nation’s key strategic systems as defined in the National Defense Strategy. AEDC offers a suite of test capabilities to simulate speed, temperature, pressure, and other parameters over a wide range to meet the needs of aerospace test and technology development of hypersonic systems, directed energy, space, propulsion and more. All NASA manned spacecraft and every high-performance aircraft, missile, most space launch systems and many military satellites in use by the Department of Defense today have been developed and tested at the Complex.
Mr. Muckerheide was commissioned in 1989 as a distinguished graduate of the ROTC program at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. His first several assignments were in the intelligence community, beginning as a foreign system analyst at what is now the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. After nine years in intelligence, he completed several flight test assignments at Edwards AFB, to include graduating from the USAF Test Pilot School and serving in the F-22 Combined Test Force. Following a Headquarters Air Force staff tour, he commanded an Air Force test detachment at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range. He then served in the Air Force Research Lab, where he was first a Program Manager in the Sensors Directorate and then Deputy Director for the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. Between the two AFRL assignments, he deployed to Iraq as a Security Assistance Officer working foreign military sales. Following the lab assignments, he was the Director of Engineering for the Battle Management PEO, and he concluded 26 years on active duty as the Commander of the 412th Electronic Warfare Group at Edwards AFB, CA.
Following active duty, Mr. Muckerheide served as an engineering subject matter expert in the Fighter/Bomber Directorate and liaison between the Air Force Test Center’s engineering directorate, and program offices, labs, and command headquarters at Wright-Patterson AFB. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Technical Director of AFMC’s Air, Space, and Cyberspace Directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB. He was responsible for providing technical guidance and counsel to directorate leadership and technical leadership to the directorate’s engineering workforce, particularly with regards to AFMC’s test activities.
EDUCATION
1989 Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN
1998 Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado-Denver, Denver, CO
1999 USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), CA
2009 Air War College (correspondence)
CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. August 1989 – May 1994, Command and Control Systems Engineer, National Air Intelligence Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), OH
2. May 1994 – July 1995, Signals Analyst, Data Masked
3. July 1995 – July 1998, Chief, Digital Datalinks Division, Aerospace Data Facility, Buckley ANGB, CO
4. July 1998 – December 1998, Flight Test Engineer 452nd Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, CA
5. December 1998 – December 1999, Student, USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, CA
6. December 1999 – August 2003, F/A-22 Assistant Operations Officer, 411th Flight Test Squadron, Edwards AFB, CA
7. August 2003 – July 2005, Chief, Systems Analysis Branch, Rapid Capabilities Office, Pentagon, VA
8. July 2005 – July 2007, Commander, 46th Test Group Detachment 1, White Sands Missile Range, NM
9. July 2007 – June 2010, Program Manager, AFRL Sensors Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
10. June 2010 – December 2010, Security Assistance Officer, Iraq Security Assistance Mission, Baghdad, Iraq
11. December 2010 – July 2011, Deputy Director, AFRL Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
12. July 2011 – June 2012, Director of Engineering, Battle Management Directorate, Hanscom AFB, MA
13. July 2012 – August 2015, Commander, 412th Electronic Warfare Group, Edwards AFB, CA
14. September 2015 – July 2018, Program Engineer and Subject Matter Expert, Special Programs Division, Fighter-Bomber Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
15. July 2018 – February 2020, AFTC Test Representative, Engineering Directorate, AF Test Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
16. February 2020 – Present, Technical Director, Air, Space, and Cyberspace Directorate, HQ AFMC, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Legion of Merit
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters