- Sanjay Parthasarathy has been chosen as the next chief capability officer of the Space Development Agency
- The appointment comes after Col. Alexander Rasmussen announced his departure as SDA capability chief
- Prior to his selection, Parthasarathy was director of SDA’s Custody and Emerging Capabilities Cell
The Space Development Agency has appointed Sanjay Parthasarathy as its new chief capability officer, succeeding Col. Alexander Rasmussen, who is leaving after five years in the agency to transition to civilian life.
In his new position, Parthasarathy will oversee SDA’s Capability Office, which supports efforts to detect, track and defeat ballistic, hypersonic and other advanced missile systems in defense of U.S. national security interests.
Who Is Sanjay Parthasarathy?
Parthasarathy most recently served as director of SDA’s Custody and Emerging Capabilities Cell, which he assumed in 2024. Before joining the agency, he spent five years at Leidos and served as vice president of national security, VP of strategy and business development operations for the company’s defense group and VP of business development and strategy for logistics and mission support operations.
From 2018 to 2019, Parthasarathy worked at LMI as chief technology and strategy officer. He also spent three years at Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions as senior vice president of strategy and SVP and general manager of semiconductor solutions.
Parthasarathy was director of corporate strategy at the time Harris Corp., now L3Harris, was acquiring Exelis. After the merger, he helped lead the integration of the companies’ engineering and technology businesses.
Parthasarathy worked in other major defense contracting firms, including at Raytheon as director of strategy and finance, Honeywell as director of technology strategy and marketing and Booz Allen Hamilton as commercial strategy and operations consultant.
Who Is Col. Alexander Rasmussen?
Parthasarathy takes over the role of outgoing Col. Alexander Rasmussen, who joined SDA in 2021 as program manager for the Tracking Layer’s Tranche 1 effort. His contributions were cited as instrumental to several of the agency’s major achievements, including the successful launches of Tranche 0 and Tranche 1 tracking satellites.
Rasmussen’s service in the U.S. Army goes back as early as 2001, when he became an assistant battalion S2 officer. His later became brigade current operations officer, program manager of foreign armored vehicle analysis and product manager of mounted position, navigation and timing. As a U.S. Army officer, he was recognized for championing the warfighter’s perspective throughout the acquisition and development process, working to keep operational needs central to SDA’s innovation efforts.
