Steve Butler, Air Force Materiel Command’s executive director since September 2008, is stepping down, effective June 30, and will retire from the Air Force after some 35 years of service, announced command officials. Replacing Butler as AFMC’s senior civilian at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will be Michael Gill, according to the command’s May 3 release. Gill has been executive director of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, also at Wright-Patt, since July 2012. In his new role, Gill will advise the AFMC commander in managing the command’s mission, serve as the service’s contracts advocate, and oversee the command’s small business program. Among the assignments over his career, Butler played a key role in developing precision-guided munitions and was deputy director of the F-22 program.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said the U.S. needs to prepared for future conflicts in which its adversaries will be able to closely track the location of American forces and attack with autonomous systems that use artificial intelligence.
