Before joining government service, Mr. James Katechis was an engineer with the Thiokol Chemical Corporation where he was involved in rocket propulsion design and program management of three air-to-air guided missiles, SAFEDUARD missile rocket motors, and space application motors for the SATURN rocket.
From 1964 to 1971, Mr. Katechis was employed at the Army Missile Command on Redstone Arsenal, where he worked on HELLFIRE (helicopter fire and forget), GLCP (cannon launched guided projectile), A-LAW (advance light-tank assault weapon), and the MARS rocket artillery system.
Positions Mr. Katechis held include that of chief for interceptor research and development in the Sentry Project. In the early 1980s, Sentry was a key element in the Army’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) program. During the Vietnam War, he served as deputy project manager in the Army Aircraft Survivability Equipment Project in St. Louis, Missouri. In the early 1970s, he headed the propulsion section in the Safeguard System Command, which developed and deployed the Free World’s only operational ballistic missile defense system.
Mr. Katechis brought extensive technical and managerial expertise to his project manager position, for which he was promoted into the government’s Senior Executive Service. He has been involved in research and development of missile systems technology for most of his 30 year career, 25 of which have been with the Army.
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