Lt Col Jerry Frazier, United States Air Force

2014 U.S. Missile Defender of the Year

Lt Col Frazier was selected as the 2014 Missile Defender of the Year for the U.S. Air Force.

Lt Col Jerry Frazier is the Division Chief, Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) for
Headquarters Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT), Shaw Air Force Base, South
Carolina. He leads the U.S. joint command and control, missile defense planning teams
and theater security CENTCOM. Lt Col Frazier is a visionary and creative leader captaining
Commander CENTCOM’s and COMUSAFCENT’s IAMD priorities in the Arabian Gulf. He
built a team of talented missile defense professionals from across the components to turn
the Area Air Defense Commander’s vision for six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partner
nations into actions poised for success. Lt Col Frazier researched, defined, and documented
the operational requirements for GCC partners for the first time ever. His division
meticulously evaluated, scored, and prioritized the U.S. joint forces critical asset lists for
seven CENTCOM nations.

Lt Col Frazier drives the CENTCOM Commander’s IAMD theater security cooperation
priorities as he leads the joint forces interoperability engagements with the GCC. He
oversees the execution of AFCENT’s equities in five bi-lateral contingency plans for the
Combined Forces Air Component Commander. From Phase 0 to redeployment, Lt Col
Frazier orchestrates operational planning which drives joint and coalition training and
exercises. He coordinated with the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center Director to
teach GCC officers Patriot, Aegis missile defense, and operational command and control
academics. This year he oversaw 62 engagements focused on building partner relationships
in IAMD. These successful engagements culminated in CENTCOM’s largest air and missile
defense exercise of the year.

He coordinated four components, three Air Expeditionary
Task Forces, six Air Expeditionary Wings, the George H. W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, the
32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, and two GCC partner nations to
successfully execute the largest Air and Missile Defense Exercise (AMDEX) seen to date.
Twice this year Lt Col Frazier authored AFCENT’s vision for collaborative defense in the
Arabian Gulf. He chaired the operational planning team to overhaul the AFCENT Air
Warfare Center and was selected by the CFACC to brief Senate Armed Services Committee
Staffers on the progress of air and missile defense training in the UAE. Lt Col Frazier led a
top-line analysis of Department of State and Office of the Secretary of Defense GCC IAMD
requirements. Those results secured the missile defense coverage of 900+ critical assets
and 30 million people spanning 4 million square miles.
Lt Col Frazier is currently deployed to CENTCOM’s CAOC in support of C-ISIL operations

Defenders of the Year