Brig. Gen. James Haywood, USAF (Ret.)
Senior Advisor to the Service Acquisition Executive (SASAE)
Space Systems Command
Senior Advisor for Space Command, Control, and Integration (SASC2I)
Brig Gen (ret) James E. Haywood is the Senior Advisor to the Service Acquisition Executive (SASAE) and the Senior Advisor for Space Command, Control, and Integration (SASC2I). He advises the Space Systems Integration Office (SSIO) for the Space Force located within Space Systems Command. As the SASAE, Mr. Haywood serves as lead adviser to the SAE for space enterprise system-of-systems engineering across the USSF and space acquisition enterprise to drive integrated enterprise capability. This includes all acquisition efforts under the authority of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration (ASAF Space (A&I)) portfolios, and applicable mission partner organizations.
As the SASC2I, Mr. Haywood is responsible for providing continual space enterprise assessments of all acquisition efforts under the same authority with respect to development, upgrade, deployment, sustainment, and integration. This includes activities that support and enable meeting Combatant Command requirements in capability areas including but not limited to space command and control, and enterprise systems of systems integration.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Haywood was the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Portfolio Integration Lead, responsible for developing AFRL-wide governance constructs and identifying opportunities internal and external to AFRL for more rapid delivery and transition of autonomy and AI-related technology and capabilities to warfighter operations. He was also the Director of the Center for Rapid Innovation (CRI) at AFRL, where he led efforts to develop innovative solutions to operational warfighter priorities through the rapid infusion, integration, and transition of technology into demonstrations and prototypes within two years or less. Mr. Haywood retired from the US Air Force in 2014 as a Brigadier General where his 30-year military career spanned a wide variety of defense acquisition and program planning assignments. As a senior executive, he served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the AF for Acquisition, as the Director for Requirements in HQ Air Force Space Command, and as the Director for Strategic Plans, Programs and Analyses in HQ Air Force Materiel Command. He was also Commander of the Air Force Security Assistance Center where he oversaw a $138B Foreign Military Sales portfolio. After military retirement, Woody joined industry as Vice President, Programs and Operations for the Beechcraft Defense Company, and later as Corporate Vice President and Dayton General Manager for the Sierra Nevada Corporation, respectively Woody holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MS in Systems Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies, the Industrial College.