Laser Weapons today and tomorrow

In this role, Evan is responsible for leading activities associated with strategy and capture management for High Energy Lasers and Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems. Hunt has a wide range of operational and planning expertise in the aerospace and defense industry. He began his career in the U.S. Air Force as a B-1 Bomber Weapon Systems & Electronic Warfare Officer. After that assignment, Hunt taught at the premier military aviation exercise, Red Flag, as an Instructor Air Defense Aggressor. He then transitioned to the CT Air National Guard as the full-time Chief of Combat Plans, 103d Air Operations Group, and eventually as Commander, 103d Maintenance Squadron. He now serves as a LtCol in the California Air National Guard, as Deputy Commander of the 156th Maintenance Group. He has deployed multiple times, in multiple roles, in support of world-wide contingency operations. Before joining Raytheon, Hunt worked on lasers as the Director of Business Development at Coherent-Nufern. He holds a B.A from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from American Public University.

Dr. Michael Jirjis is the lead for base defense capability development within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Architecture & Integration Directorate. He currently works with Air Force senior leaders in developing the near and long term strategy for holistic base defense to include implementation of game changing technologies like Directed Energy. Prior to AFLCMC/XA, he was the lead for the Air Force’s Directed Energy Weapon Experimentation Campaign and on-going Field Assessment.

He was born in Columbus, Ohio on 24 August 1985. He graduated from Wayzata High School, Minnesota in 2004 and obtained his Bachelor of Science (2009) and Doctoral degrees (2013) from Marquette University. While obtaining his education, Dr. Jirjis has worked in the biotechnology division at Cargill Inc, with a focus on biological culture production and analysis. He has also had considerable amount of experience in the medical device industry working for both Medtronic and Boston Scientific on medical defibrillators, pacemakers, and cardiac stents. During his graduate research, Dr. Jirjis managed and conducted human and animal experiments in spinal cord injury, stem cell development, and medical imaging fields across three institutions. Before joining the Air Force, Dr. Jirjis worked as a defense contractor for General Dynamics acting as a subject matter expert (SME) for human effects of non-lethal weapon technology development for the Department of Defense’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. Dr. Jirjis transitioned to the Air Force in 2014 and was the Deputy Program Manager for the radio frequency bioeffects group, leading biological effect based experimental studies with radio frequency technology. Currently, Dr. Jirjis is the Chief of Directed Energy Experimentation Campaigns and the action officer for the Air Force’s Directed Energy Weapons Flight Plan. He oversees the activities and changes to the Air Force that support the operationalization of directed energy for three specific use cases: Forward Airbase Defense, Precision Engagement, and Aircraft Self-Protect. The experimentation campaign looks to accelerate the transition of Directed Energy Weapons and provide input to Senior Leaders and the Air Force investment strategy.

Dr. Craig A. Robin is Director of the Directed Energy Project Office within the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO), Redstone Arsenal, Ala. He assumed duties in April 2019. In this position, Dr. Robin is responsible for oversight and execution of research, development, prototyping, test, evaluation, procurement and fielding of Army directed energy technologies and capabilities that address near-term and mid-term threats, consistent with the Army’s modernization priorities. Appointed as a Senior Scientific Professional (ST) in August 2017, Dr. Robin served as Senior Research Scientist (Directed Applications), Technical Center, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command. In this role, Dr. Robin was responsible for the overview, execution, and coordination of programs in basic research, exploratory development, advanced development, and system integration in the technological and functional areas of directed energy weapons necessary to advance the pioneering development of revolutionary military systems and equipment. Dr. Robin previously worked with Lockheed Martin Laser and Sensor Systems in Bothell, Wash. as a Research Scientist from October of 2013 to August of 2017. Prior to that, Dr. Robin spent 10 years, from 2003 to 2013, as a Research Physicist and graduate student with the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M. Dr. Robin holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore.; a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M.; and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.