Rick Cappo is the Vice President of Engineering at MBDA Inc. where he is responsible for the leading-edge operation—from design to fielding—of guided weapons. He oversees the engineering activities for MBDA’s US facilities and strategically guides the business to achieve its technical objectives for existing and future missile programs. With 35 years of progressive experience in the Defense Industry, Mr. Cappo has a proven record of capture for both new start programs and enhancement of ongoing programs of record, including the introduction of MBDA European proven technologies and products into the US market.

Mr. Cappo started his career with Hughes Aircraft Company, Missile Systems Group (now part of Raytheon) where he was responsible for the systems analysis of a variety of weapon system programs including Maverick multi-mode missile and Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). He then progressed to Section Head for the AMRAAM Systems Engineering group responsible for the design of the missile’s radar and signal processing subsystem.

When Mr. Cappo left Hughes, he joined Lockheed Aeronautical Systems’ (Lockheed Martin’s) elite Skunk Works where he led a group of engineers in the development of a Full Mission Simulator for the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter, establishing system Key Performance Parameters/Key System Attributes (KPPs/KSAs) and setting design requirements for the F-22 avionics system and weapons fire control.

Mr. Cappo has also worked with other organizations: as Senior Manager at GEC Marconi, responsible for the design and delivery of a family of air-to-ground weapon systems, and Vice President of Strike Weapons at ATK (now Orbital ATK), advancing the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) program through Critical Design Review (CDR) and leading capture and proposal efforts for emerging advanced weapon systems.

Throughout his career, Mr. Cappo has been able to contribute his engineering expertise on a wide variety of successful weapon systems for the US DoD, UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), and other military export customers. Some examples of systems he worked include: AMRAAM, F-117 Stealth Fighter, F-22 Raptor (YF-22 prototype), UAE Hakim, Small Diameter Bomb, Brimstone Missile, Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), and Multi-Stage Supersonic Target.

Mr. Cappo holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Administration and Management Science from Carnegie Mellon University and has master’s level training in Signal Processing Theory.