Mr. Donald Russ, a fast senior-level Army executive, was a veteran of 20 years of government service.
Prior to being named acting director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Advanced Technology Center (BMDATC), he was chief of the center’s Radar Directorate, a post he assumed in October 1977. Under his leadership, significant technological advances were made in radar nuclear hardening, high-speed digital signal processing, and high—frequency millimeter wave radar. At the same time, radar costs were substantially reduced.
From March 1981 until he was named acting BMDATC director, Mr. Russ also headed a high priority effort to develop technologies for “endoatmospheric nonnuclear kill”. Or the use of interceptors without nuclear warheads to destroy hostile missiles after they have reentered the earth’s atmosphere.
From 1975 to 1977 Mr. Russ was acting director of the BMDATC Discrimination Directorate, with responsibility for planning and managing an advanced discrimination program for technology to distinguish real targets from false targets.
Mr. Russ headed the Reentry Physics Division of the Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense Agency (ABMDA) from 1970 to 1974. ABMDA was the Army organization from which the BMD Advanced Technology Center evolved. Among other things, the position involved management of the Department of Defense Reentry Measurements Program specializing in reentry physics and radar data analysis. As a general engineer with ABMDA from 1964-1970, Mr. Russ specialized in reentry physics, reentry vehicles, and instrumentation technology and data analysis
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