Colonel David A. Anhalt (U.S. Air Force, retired) joined Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) as Vice President of U.S. Government Solutions in February 2011.  Mr. Anhalt leads selected strategic initiatives in the company’s current and adjacent markets and promotes new technology, business approaches, and product offerings supporting future growth in the national security space sector. 

Mr. Anhalt has more than 35 years of industry experience in systems engineering, weapon acquisition, and strategic planning.  Prior to joining SS/L, Mr. Anhalt spent seven years at Orbital Sciences Corporation where he directed a portfolio of national security space programs.  In that role he conceived, captured, and managed the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP) flight test demonstration scheduled for launch in 2011 to evaluate modern wide-field-of-view staring sensors for missile warning.  CHIRP is the largest unsolicited proposal ever awarded on a sole source basis in the history of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and is the U.S. Government’s first experiment hosting a military payload on a foreign owned commercial spacecraft.

Col Anhalt’s distinguished 28-year military career included a broad array of research and development, test operations, and program management responsibilities in both the airplane and space sectors.  His final military assignment was Chief of the Space Control and Advanced Technologies Division for the Undersecretary of the Air Force where he directed the development and procurement of defensive and offensive counterspace systems.  Before that, Col Anhalt was the Air Force Military Assistant to the Director of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he directed comparative analyses of U.S. and foreign use of precision strike weapons and space systems in warfare.

Mr. Anhalt is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and has held several key positions in the test and evaluation of air and space systems including flight test engineer for the Airborne Laser Laboratory and the F-117 stealth fighter; chief scientist for acquisition, tracking and pointing at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization in the Pentagon; director of engineering for the combined contractor-government test team for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS).   

Mr. Anhalt earned a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy.  He holds an M.S.E. degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University; an M.E.E.E. degree in digital design and control theory from the University of Idaho; and a Masters in international relations from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.  He is an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.