General Gregory S. Martin, USAF, Ret., is a senior fellow for the National Defense University in support of the Pinnacle, Capstone and Keystone programs.
General Martin retired from the United States Air Force in 2005 after thirty-five years of active commissioned service. His final duty was as the Commander of the Air Force Materiel Command where he commanded nearly 80,000 personnel charged with the responsibility for the Air Force Science and Technology, Acquisition Support, Test and Evaluation and Weapons Systems Sustainment and Logistics missions. During his tenure, General Martin initiated the most significant organizational and process transformation in the history of the Air Force Materiel Command. Centered around the “Lean Engineering Model,” AFMC achieved unprecedented on-time maintenance and logistics performance improvements while concurrently reducing costs to the operational commands by 20 percent.
Previously, he was the Commander of the United States Air Forces Europe, Air Component Commander U.S. European Command and the Commander for NATO’s Allied Air Forces North. In those capacities, he commanded the United States, alliance and coalition air forces during operations Northern Watch, Joint Forge, Joint Guardian and Atlas Response. Additionally, he commanded the joint and allied air forces in the European theater of operations as they conducted long range combat employment missions, humanitarian relief, special operations sustainment and the largest post-WW II combat airdrops as a part of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
A career fighter pilot with more than 4,600 flying hours, mostly in the F-4 and the F-15, General Martin flew as a combat ready pilot, flight leader, instructor pilot, operations officer and squadron commander in assignments throughout the world which include a combat tour in Southeast Asia where he flew 161 combat missions. He also commanded three fighter wings: The 479thTactical Training Wing and the 33rd and 1st Fighter Wings.
General Martin has experienced a rich variety of staff assignments that included operations and training, programming and budgeting, joint operations and force planning, joint and Air Force operational requirements and Air Force Acquisition. His senior level positions included being the Vice Director, and acting Director, of the Joint Staff’s J-8 Directorate, Director of Air Force Operational Requirements and Principal Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.
Since retiring, General Martin has been a senior mentor with the Joint Forces Command. He has served on two Defense Science Board Studies, has served as the Chairman of the National Academies Air Force Studies Board, and the MITRE Air Force Advisory Board. He is also a consultant to many defense sector firms.
Retired from the Air Force in 2005, General Gregory S. Martin’s active duty biography is available on the Air Force website.