Pierre Sprey, Defense Analyst & F-35 critic: January 17
First Unitarian Society
900 University Bay Drive, Madison
January 17, 2019
6:45 pm
Snacks and light refreshments will be served. Bring something to share if you like.
PROGRAM INCLUDES:
Pierre Sprey, Defense Analyst and critic of the F-35
Wisconsin State Rep. Chris Taylor will speak about the impact of the proposed F-35 jets on our communities.
Music by The Getaway Drivers and Peter & Lou Berryman
Bring your checkbook for an action that won’t cost you more than a voided check.
- Doors open at 6:15 pm
- Show will begin by 7:00 pm
- Suggested donation $15 but everyone is welcome.
Pierre Sprey has engineering degrees from Yale and Cornell. He worked for seven years as an operations researcher and statistician for Grumman Aircraft. In 1966, Sprey joined the Secretary of Defense’s systems analysis office. The following year, along with Air Force Colonels John Boyd and Everest Riccioni, he created the F-16 concept design, bringing it to production eight years later in the face of entrenched opposition. Simultaneously, working for USAF Colonel Avery Kay, Sprey led the A-10’s concept design team, then helped implement the plane’s competitive prototype acquisition against even deeper rooted opposition.
Continuing this work after leaving the Pentagon in 1971, he became a principal in two consulting firms. He also analyzed numerous other air and ground weapons, building on the seminal work of Army Colonel Richard Hallock, pioneer of the combat history –combat data approach to cost effectiveness analysis. In the late 1970s, Boyd and Sprey, together with a dedicated group of Pentagon and congressional insiders, launched the military reform movement and then the Congressional Military Reform Caucus, leading to passage of several military reform bills.
Sprey continues to write and work actively with reform-minded officers, journalists, congressional staff and foundations on current aircraft program issues like the troubled F-35 and the under-supported A-10.