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The ����ֱ�� Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, has appointed Dennis Woodfork to lead its National Security Space Mission Area.

Charged with developing advanced solutions to national security challenges in space, the mission area provides essential space warfighting expertise that spans force design, test and evaluation, rapid prototyping, and operations. Woodfork will lead teams that craft revolutionary technical capabilities to anticipate threats, deter conflict and ensure U.S. space dominance.​

“Dennis is a proven leader whose national security space expertise, experience and service make him the ideal choice to lead our National Security Space Mission Area,” said Bobby Braun, head of APL’s Space Exploration Sector. “His vision and collaborative approach will ensure that APL continues to deliver innovative solutions that advance our nation’s interests and capabilities in space.”

Woodfork joined APL in 2016 and has worked across a broad range of national security space efforts. From 2018 to 2023, he served as a national security space program manager and led the APL Colorado Springs office. In that capacity, he made critical contributions that advanced test and evaluation range operations, digital infrastructure and on-orbit range instrumentation for the U.S. Space Force and its mission partners. He was appointed deputy mission area executive for National Security Space in 2023 and directly supported combatant commander priorities at U.S. Space Command in the areas of offensive and defensive space operations, cyber operations, and multidomain effects.

Before joining APL, Woodfork was the assistant division chief for technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he spearheaded strategy and technology development for spacecraft guidance, navigation and control; in-space propulsion; and space situational awareness.

As a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Woodfork has overseen a broad range of space portfolios while leading the operational acceptance of space control, space domain awareness, and command and control systems. Between 2019 and 2023, he helped stand up Space Force activities at Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases.

Woodfork earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.