bio-caruana2 Patrick P. Caruana, Lt. Gen. (Ret) USAF
Board of Directors

General Patrick P. Caruana graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1963. He is a command pilot, having flown more than 5,000 hours with 500 combat hours. He commanded the service’s first fully operational KC-135R wing, a strategic wing that supported Pacific fighter, reconnaissance and SR-71 aircraft, an air division in both peacetime and combat, and the first space numbered Air Force.

As an air campaign planner and commander directing strategic forces in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War, his people operated 12 wings of tanker, bomber and battle management aircraft in six nations and the Indian Ocean area. At the Pentagon, he directed long-range power projection, special operations forces airlift, and training programs.

As Air Force Space Command’s first 14th Air Force commander he directed the Air Force’s only space force which supports war fighting worldwide with ballistic missile warning, control of Department of Defense and NATO satellites, space lift generation and range operations, global space surveillance and warning, and ballistic missile test operations.

General Patrick P. Caruana was honored in 1998 with the award of the Thomas D. White U.S. Air Force Space Trophy for his contributions to civil and military space progress. He is a member of various for profit and nonprofit boards. He has served as a member of the President’s Cabinet for California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, California. In addition, he was selected by UNICO, a national Italian-American society as the Outstanding Man of the Year for 1994.

From 2002 through February 2005, General Patrick P. Caruana served as Vice President of Northrop Grumman Space Technology. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense enterprise and provides technological services and solutions in defense electronics, systems integration, in non-nuclear shipbuilding, and space technology. He also served as Vice President and Program Manager for TRW Space & Electronics from August 1999 until the company was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002.