Born the son of migrant cat-herders, Rich grew up with a dream – a dream to design perfectly survivable combat aircraft.  Using the inventions of fire, the wheel and transparent aluminum – he set about his task of forging the perfectly survivable machine.  It turns out that while completely undetectable, it also weighs too much to leave the soil it was built on – thus assuring it’s survivability perfectly.  “Now, if I could just remember where I built it…”

Dr Rich ‘Bart’ Huffman currently serves at the Institute of Defense Analyses supporting the Operational Effectiveness and Live Fire Divisions as an Adjunct Research Staff Member from his home in New Mexico near White Sands Missile Range.  He has a Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and is retired from the US Air Force where he served as the Commander of the National Radar Cross Section Test Facility, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and the Chief of Special Programs for United States Africa Command.  Rich is also a Flight Test Engineering graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School with test experience in multiple fighter, bomber and transport aircraft programs with a passion for improving the survivability of our weapon systems to allow them and most importantly their crews to fight another day.