Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has nominated Air Force Maj. Gen. Christopher Bogdan to serve as director of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
Bogdan has also been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general.
The nearly three-decade Air Force veteran currently serves as deputy director of the program, led by Navy Vice Adm. David Venlet.
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the F-35 program.
Before his current assignment, Bogdan served as program executive officer and program director for the KC-46, a Boeing-made military aerial refueling and strategic transport aircraft.
For that assignment, he was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and was was responsible for developing, testing, fielding and supporting the replacement aircraft for the KC-135 tanker.
Between May 2006 and May 2009, he served in the Pentagon as senior military Assistant to the deputy under secretary for acquisition and technology and was promoted to serve in the same capacity for the under secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.
