Dr. Keith Krapels

Dr. Keith A. Krapels was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in June 2018, and is the Director, Technical Center, in the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC). He is responsible for leading and managing research, development, and test programs for space, missile defense, cyber, directed energy, and related technologies. He is also responsible for the management of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands).

Dr. Krapels served in the Navy as an EA-6B Prowler Electronics Countermeasures Officer flying 52 combat missions before moving to the Navy Reserve. He retired in 2017 as a Captain, having deployed OCONUS ten times, five of which were for combat operations. During his career, he acquired both tactical and technical/Research and Development expertise in design, modeling, analysis, simulation, build, test, rapid fielding, and the employment of military sensors and countermeasures to sensors.

Dr. Krapels' previous Senior Executive experience was as the Director for Applied Technology (Hypersonics, Directed Energy, and Integrated Sensing) and the Director for C5ISR&EW at the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Prior to those two positions, he was the Director for the Sensors and Electronics Directorate at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

Dr. Krapels is a graduate of the University of Memphis. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, a BA in history, and a BS in Applied Mathematics.

Dr. Krapels' awards and recognitions include the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology) Research and Development Achievement Award, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition) Acquisition Excellence Award for Technology Transition, Meritorious Service Medal (3 awards), Air Medal (2 awards), Navy Commendation Medal (four awards, 1 with combat distinguishing "V" device), Navy Achievement Medals (2 awards). Dr. Krapels is a Fellow of the Military Sensing Symposia and the International Society of Optics and Photonics. He has published 105 papers and has one patent.