O.J. Sanchez, a former Air Force F-22 pilot and currently the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Fighter Group, will take over as head of the company’s Skunk Works advanced products unit in January. He succeeds John Clark, who is taking on a new position as the company’s senior vice president for technology and strategic innovation.
Skunk Works, located at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., is Lockheed’s premier aerospace innovation organization, which over more than 70 years has provided landmark systems for the Air Force, including the U-2 and SR-71 spyplanes, the F-117 stealth attack jet, and the RQ-170 stealth spyplane. It also contributed heavily to the design and development of the F-22 and F-35, the Air Force’s two fifth-generation fighters, an undisclosed number of the Air Force’s hypersonic programs, and a large number of experimental and classified operational platforms.
As head of the Integrated Fighter Group, Sanchez oversees the development, production and, sustainment of the F-16 and F-22 programs, and presided over the launch of F-16 production at Greenville, S.C., after the company moved that enterprise from its Fort Worth, Texas, plant, where F-35s are built. In his three years in that position, he also directed the T-50 K-FX, J-FX, and other international partnerships. He previously was the vice president and general manager of the F-22 program, and worked on the F-35 program. Collectively, Sanchez has more than 10 years of experience with Lockheed.
On active duty, Sanchez was an F-15 and F-22 pilot, amassing more than 2,100 hours flight hours. His last active duty assignment was as Deputy Director of Operations for the Joint Staff.
Whereas most of Sanchez’ predecessors at Skunk Works were technologists and engineers, Sanchez’s experience with the company has been in the manufacture, refinement, and sustainment of established programs, possibly indicating that more of Skunk Works’ business will be in production and sustainment of classified platforms and systems, rather than just in development of exotic new technologies. Skunk Works continues to maintain and develop the U-2 spyplane.
In a posting on X, Clark noted Sanchez’s “more than 30 years of combined military and industry expertise,” saying he has “demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving advanced program execution aligned with the Department of Defense’s deterrence vision.”
Clark is leaving Skunk Works after three years and taking on a new position as senior vice president for Technology and Strategic Innovation. He will be a direct report to CEO Jim Taiclet and will also oversee Lockheed Martin Ventures.
A successor for Sanchez at the Integrated Fighter Group has not been named.