Dr. Michael Francis has been a pioneer in the development of uncrewed and autonomous systems, having initiated the precursor to DARPA’s original Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Program in the mid-1990s. He joined DARPA while still on active duty as an Air Force Colonel to lead the award-winning US–German X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability (EFM) demonstrator program through its flight test and demonstration phase. During that same period, Colonel Francis initiated DARPA’s original Micro Air Vehicle program. He also led the government-contractor team that created DARPA’s unmanned tactical aircraft (UTA) concept—the precursor to UCAV. A decade later and following his military retirement, Francis returned to DARPA as the civilian Director of the $4.5B DARPA–USAF–Navy Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program—the successor to UCAV. Dr. Francis also served in executive roles at Aurora Flight Sciences, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, General Atomics, and the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC). Francis holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado. He is a Fellow of the AIAA and a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He earned his private pilot license in 1964.