We welcome and are honored to bring forward the newest member to our team, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Jon “Ty” Thomas. 

Lt. Gen. (Ret) Thomas will serve as a Senior Fellow for Global Affairs and a Special Advisor to the MDAA Board for Integration of Air and Missile Defense.

As a Senior Fellow for Global Affairs, Ty will provide expertise and inform MDAA activities related to missile defense within, and across, multiple regions of the globe spanning Combatant Command boundaries. Specific areas of emphasis include how current and proposed multi-domain capabilities of missile defense in the Indo-Pacific and Europe contribute to the defense of North America, as well as how capabilities resident in North America can support and augment missile defense in overseas regions. 

As a Special Advisor to the Board for Integration of Air and Missile Defense, Ty will provide advice and input to the MDAA Board of Directors on efforts to advance the integration of air and missile defense activities. Primary areas of focus include the defense of fixed and remote/austere forward operating locations to enable continued combat operations despite adversary attempts at saturation attack, as well as the contribution of advanced sensors, command and control, and air superiority platforms to enable more effective cruise and ballistic missile defense.

Lt. Gen. (Ret) Jon Thomas served over 32 years in the United States Air Force, most recently as Deputy Commander, Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), and the Deputy Theater Joint Force Air Component Commander to the Commander, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). In these roles, Lt. Gen. (Ret) Thomas was the deputy to the air component commander within the largest and most critical geographical theater.

Prior to his assignment at PACAF, Lt. Gen. (Ret) Thomas was the deputy commander for Air Mobility Command, the Air Force’s transportation and airlift command. In addition to his Pacific and air mobility assignments, he has extensive experience in Europe from several assignments at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, including tours as the Director of Operations, Strategic Deterrence, and Nuclear Integration, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa; commander of the 86th Airlift Wing and 86th Operations Group; and deputy commander of the 603d Air and Space Operations Center.

Lt. Gen. (Ret) Thomas is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and the Air War College. He is a combat-proven pilot, with over 4,000 flight hours in the C-17, KC-10, C-130, T-38, and eight other aircraft.