Top Acquisition official, nominee for AFMC command, visits Edwards

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Lt. Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowski, Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, visited Edwards for mission briefs and a tour of base facilities March 3.

Air Force officials announced Feb. 13 the President's nomination of Pawlikowski to the rank of general with assignment as the commander of Air Force Materiel Command, which is the major command Edwards AFB falls under. Officials also announced the retirement of current AFMC Commander Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger.

No date has been announced for the retirement and change of command.

Pawlikowski received Air Force Test Center and 412th Test Wing mission briefs followed by a tour of the 412th Maintenance Group. The general was briefed on how the 412th MXG modifies and maintains 70 uniquely configured test and support aircraft in 16 mission design series for developmental and operational flight testing.

She was then given an F-35 planeside briefing where the unique aspect of the Joint Test Program involving three services, eight partner nations and three Aircraft types were discussed along with the 5th generation full spectrum capability of the F-35.

Pawlikowski also received an RQ-4 Planeside briefing along with a tour of the Benefield Anechoic Facility.

Pending U.S. Senate confirmation, she would oversee some 80,000 people and manage $60 billion annually as AFMC commander, executing the critical mission of warfighter support through leading-edge science and technology, cradle-to-grave life cycle weapon systems management, world-class developmental test and evaluation, and world-class depot maintenance and supply chain management.

Pawlikowski entered the Air Force in 1978 through the ROTC program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She then attended the University of California at Berkeley and received a Doctorate in chemical engineering in December 1981, entering active duty April 1982.

The general's career has spanned a wide variety of technical management, leadership and staff positions including command at the wing and center levels. She has served as Director of the Acquisition Management Office for the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy and as Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Counterproliferation, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Her leadership assignments included Program Director of the Airborne Laser Program; Commander of the Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing; Deputy Director of the National Reconnaissance Office; Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory; and most recently Commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center.

Pawlikowski is nationally recognized for her leadership in the U.S. science and technology community. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and an elected member of the National Academy of Engineers.

Wolfenbarger, who became the Air Force's first female four-star general in 2012, will retire after more than 34 years of service.