Lieutenant General Michael Schmidt

PEO & Director for F-35 Lightning II Program U.S. Air Force

Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt is the Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office in Arlington, Virginia. The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office is the Department of Defense’s agency responsible for developing, delivering, and sustaining the F-35A/B/C, the 5th-Generation strike aircraft weapon system for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, seven Cooperative International Partners, and seven current Foreign Military Sales customers. The F-35 Joint Program Office has more than 2,220 personnel located across the U.S and OCONUS locations and is the Department and Department of Defense’s largest acquisition program.

Lt. Gen. Schmidt entered the Air Force in 1991 after graduating from Iowa State University as an industrial engineer and ROTC distinguished graduate. He served in numerous engineering, program management, and leadership positions. He worked as a Lockheed Martin program  manager via the Education with Industry program. He served as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of Air Force Materiel Command; both  an Air Force Legislative and Appropriations Liaison; the F-35 Program Element Monitor; an advisor to the Afghan National Army and commanded the 696th Armament Systems Squadron. Lt. Gen. Schmidt then served as the Deputy for Tactical Aircraft Systems in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as the Senior Materiel Leader for the Contractor Logistics Support Division at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center.

He also served as Program Executive Officer for Fixed Wing Programs at U.S. Special Operations Command; Program Executive Officer for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Special Operations Forces at Air Force Materiel Command; Program Executive Officer for Fighters and Bombers; and, most recently, as Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence, and Networks. He is a graduate of the Air Force Legislative Fellows Program and the National War College.