Boeing [BA] named a veteran company executive, Mike Rinn, to move from a lower Airborne Laser (ABL) missile defense program post into the top job, the company said yesterday.
For the past five years, Rinn has served as the air vehicle integration and test director and the ABL deputy program manager, and in that capacity he has managed a multi- company integration and test efforts for the ABL weapon system.
The ABL development program aced several key progress points last year, and the program survived attempts by some in Congress to savage its financial support, finally emerging with a handsome 94 percent of the funds that President Bush requested for ABL.
Rinn now becomes vice president and program director for the ABL program, reporting directly to Scott Fancher, Boeing Missile Defense Systems vice president and general manager.
Rinn replaces Greg Hyslop, who was recently named vice president and program director for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program, another major Boeing-led program to protect the United States, its forces abroad and its allies from missile attacks by rogue nations or terrorists.
ABL progress has included high energy chemical laser tests in 2005 and the first ever active tracking and atmospheric compensation tests last summer.
In his 22 years with Boeing, Rinn has served in various technological and program management roles with extensive experience in the integration and test of complex electro- optic and high energy laser systems. He acted as deputy program manager for advanced programs on Laser and Electro-optics Systems for more than 10 years and subsequently served as the director for the Maui Space Surveillance System and the Maui High Performance Computer Center.
Prior to joining Boeing, Rinn served in the Navy as a lieutenant and F-14 fighter aircraft pilot. He flew over 1,700 hours and completed more than 200 carrier landings. He holds a bachelor of science in geology from Northern Arizona University and a master of business administration from University of Laverne in Laverne, Calif.
Boeing is the prime contractor for ABL, contributing both leadership and the highly modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet on which ABL is mounted. Northrop Grumman [NOC] contributes the laser system, including a laser that can demolish an enemy missile shortly after it rises from a launch pad, while Lockheed Martin [LMT] contributes the beam control/fire control that aims the laser beam at the missile.