Greene County News
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Air Force officials recently announced that Brig. Gen. William “Bill” T. Cooley will become the commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Cooley will replace Maj. Gen. Robert McMurry Jr., the current AFRL commander who was selected for assignment as commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, also headquartered at WPAFB.
Cooley is currently the program executive for Programs and Integration for the Missile Defense Agency, where he is responsible for a variety of programs including the ground-based midcourse defense, global deployment, targets and countermeasures as well as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, which are valued at more than $2.5 billion annually.
In his new position, Cooley will oversee and manage a $2.1 billion Air Force science and technology program and an additional $2.3 billion in externally funded research and development.
Cooley entered the Air Force in 1988 through the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ROTC program. He has served in a variety of program management, technical management, staff and command positions at all levels of the Air Force.
“I’m very excited to return to AFRL and work with the exceptional men and women across the AFRL enterprise,” Cooley said. “The AFRL team is a vital Air Force resource with a reputation for leading discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies across air, space and cyberspace.”
