Kirk Shawhan

Kirk Shawhan is the mission area executive for Precision Strike at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), where he leads and sets the direction for a mission area with an annual effort of over 425 staff-years and more than $150 million. The mission area is focused on the development and fielding of capabilities to revolutionize the art of strike and air combat operations for a diverse sponsor base that includes the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Strategic Capabilities Office, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and numerous defense acquisition programs. Portfolio concentration includes long-range targeting systems, electronic warfare, counter-C5ISR&T capabilities, air combat, and time-critical strike. Previously, Mr. Shawhan held numerous roles in the Laboratory’s Air and Missile Defense Mission Area, initially with Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and later as an assistant program area manager, responsible for a significant portion of APL’s Missile Defense Agency portfolio, including the programs at the APL Huntsville field office. Prior to joining APL, Mr. Shawhan served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a tactical jet pilot with deployments to Bahrain for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and Italy for flight operations over the former Yugoslavia. He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and an M.S. in computer science from the Johns Hopkins University.