New Deputy Directors Named for Golden Dome, Top Air Force Programs

The White House nominated Army Maj. Gen. Brian W. Gibson for promotion to three-star general as the No. 2 officer in charge of the Golden Dome missile defense shield and Air Force Maj. Gen. Mark B. Pye for a similar promotion as deputy chief of major Air Force programs at the Pentagon.

Gibson will report to Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, director for Golden Dome for America, and help manage the missile defense portfolio, while Pye will report to Air Force Gen. Dale R. White, whose new role encompassesthe Air Force’s biggest acquisition programs, including the F-47 fighter, B-21 bomber, and Sentinel ICBM replacement. 

Pye’s nomination for lieutenant general appeared in the Congressional Record on Jan. 15. An Air Force spokesperson confirmed that, if confirmed, Pye will be “Military Deputy to the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Critical Major Weapon Systems Programs.”  

Both offices centralize oversight of major acquisition programs and report directly to Deputy Secretary of Defense Steven Feinberg. 

The Golden Dome directorship was created in July and just months later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Feinberg announced a similar structure for the Air Force’s highest-visibility programs. White was confirmed in that post in December. White and Pye will be “assisted by a small, highly-specialized staff resident” in the Pentagon, an official previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine.  

Pye currently would move into his new role after a tour as director of programs under the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs. A command poilot with more than 3,600 flight hours, Pye trained as a KC-10 and B-2 pilot and commanded a bomb squadron and the Air Force Inspection Agency before joining Headquarters Air Force in 2021 as director of concepts and strategy at Air Force Futures. He also served as director of global power programs in the office of the Air Force acquisition executive. 

Having flown nearly a dozen aircraft types in his career, Pye now brings that varied experience to a job overseeing a combined budget of more than $20 billion in 2026 alone. He had previously been tapped to lead the Air Force Nuclear Systems Center, a planned new role that has since been eliminated.

The entire Pentagon acquisition enterprise is in the midst of major changes, as Hegseth and Feinberg seek to centralize their control over the department’s largest programs. 

Gibson is currently director of plans and policy at U.S. Space Command and previously commanded the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. He was director of the Army’s Air and Missile Defense Cross Functional Team before that and has a long history in missile defense, particularly working with the Patriot surface-to-air interceptor.