WASHINGTON — Air Force Maj. Gen. Heath Collins will pin on a 3rd star and develop into the Missile Defense Agency’s next director, in response to the Pentagon’s general officer announcement on May 31.
Collins will replace Vice Adm. Jon Hill, who has served as director since 2019.
The Air Force general is currently the MDA’s program executive officer for Ground-Based Weapons Systems at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Inside that $3.4 billion portfolio, Collins manages the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, consisting of interceptors in the bottom at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, designed to intercept potential intercontinental ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran.
Also under his purview is the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, 4 Joint U.S. and Israeli programs and other classified programs.
Collins previously was the Air Force’s program executive officer for weapons and director of the armament directorate, where he worked on the Air Force’s $92 billion non-nuclear weapons, munitions and ammunition portfolio.
The final began his military profession in 1993 as a missile analyst within the 83rd Fighter Weapons Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
Because the services are moving to develop offensive hypersonic capability, Collins recently oversaw the ups and downs of the Air Force’s AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon development, or ARRW, which experienced a successful test last 12 months. Amid a slew of failed test events before and after its successful one, the Air Force decided to drop the Lockheed Martin-developed program earlier this 12 months.
Now, Collins will oversee an MDA program in its nascent phase of development — an interceptor able to taking out hypersonic weapons within the glide phase of flight, a difficult technical challenge.
MDA has also spent the last 4 years working to upgrade the GMD system, which resides in Collins’ current portfolio. Two teams are competing to construct a next-generation interceptor for the system as the present system undergoes a service life extension program.
Collins may also manage the MDA portion of a serious latest enterprise in Guam to develop a highly capable air and missile defense architecture to defend the island territory from constantly evolving and growing threats within the region. Some elements of that architecture include systems already in his purview.
The MDA’s $10.9 billion fiscal 2024 budget request continues to prioritize regional and homeland missile defense with a serious concentrate on constructing the defensive architecture in Guam.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.