Gerry Fasano
President of the Defense Group, Leidos
Leidos Defense Group’s biggest recent achievements under Gerry Fasano’s leadership include new contract wins, like Navy NGEN and the Defense Enclave Services contract. DES currently is the largest win in company history at $11.5 billion.
But uniquely this year, some of the group’s work often unseen is playing out on the world stage during the Ukraine conflict.
“People are drawn to work at Leidos because of the mission impact their work will have,” he said. “Usually we don’t publicly see or talk about what that is due to classification and sensitivities. This past year was different as we supported our customers during the Ukraine conflict.”
Leidos’ U.K. team led a big ammunition supply convoy in Europe for the U.K. Ministry of Defence to help Ukraine. Leidos’ team planned and executed all aspects of the logistics for the convoy, which was the largest in Europe since World War II. The team also supported the training and equipping of 12,000 new Ukrainian troops.
In the air, the Leidos special mission aircraft, ARTEMIS, flew over 200 sorties in support of the NATO effort to monitor the Ukraine conflict. Leidos’ second aircraft on this program was completed ahead of schedule in December and is already deployed to Europe to provide further support.
Why Watch
In 2023, Fasano and his team are focused on delivering resilient and scalable multidomain solutions to help the U.S. and its allies stay ahead of adversaries.
The threat environment has changed to a great power competition with China and Russia. This requires new approaches to keep the advantage of the nation’s warfighters in physical and digital domains.
This is something that has played out in Ukraine over the last year, as the U.S. and its European allies provided support for Ukraine’s efforts against Russian hostilities, Fasano said.
“And this will ramp up further as AUKUS ⏤ the Australia, U.K. and U.S. security pact ⏤ further amplifies cooperation and coordination between the countries in both the European and Pacific regions,” he said. “We’re working hard to bring our decades of experience and technical expertise to protect and grow our warfighters’ advantage, wherever the battlefield is.”
