Col. Richard Beckman, USAF

Commander, Phillips Research Site
Air Force Research Laboratory

Director, Space Vehicles Directorate

Col. Richard R. Beckman is the Commander, Phillips Research Site and Director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. He leads a team of 1,080 military, civilian, and contractors who comprise the nation’s center of excellence for military space science and technology, research and development, as well as advanced technologies integration and demonstration. His organization develops enduring space capabilities for the U.S. Space Force, including communications, position, navigation and timing, missile warning, space domain awareness and space control. The directorate also contributes science and technology for advanced nuclear systems to enhance nuclear deterrent capabilities.
 
Prior to his current position, Col. Beckman served as Senior Materiel Leader and Chief Integrated Experiments and Evaluations Division at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and led a team of 160 military, civilians, and contractors in managing concept ideation, assessment, acquisition, operation, and transition activities for numerous satellite research and development programs supporting AFRL and the United States Space Force.
 
Col. Beckman was commissioned in 1999 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Tulane University. After completing his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering focusing on positioning, navigation, and timing systems for autonomous underwater surveillance systems, he entered active duty in 2001. Col. Beckman’s career includes multiple assignments spanning the full intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance acquisition life cycle from research and development to sustainment. His assignments include Research Engineer, Research Branch Chief, Lead Test Engineer, Program Manager, Program Element Monitor, Materiel Leader and Joint Staff J-8. In August 2021, Col. Beckman transferred from the U.S. Air Force and was sworn into the U.S. Space Force as the Air Force Technical Applications Center’s first Guardian Vice Commander in the center’s history.
 
During his tenure at AFTAC, Col. Beckman served as the Vice Commander, Air Force Technical Applications Center, Patrick Space Force Base, Fla. AFTAC operates and maintains the United States Atomic Energy Detection System that monitors foreign compliance with various treaties limiting nuclear testing. The focus of AFTAC’s more than 1,000 professionals is to detect special events in the atmosphere, underwater, underground and in space, determine if they are nuclear, and report them to national decision makers.

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Related Sessions

Orbits as Terrain: Spacecraft Maneuverability and the Unfought Battlefield

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

4:20 pm - 5:00 pm

Track: Symposium Program

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