Chris Azzano’s Journey of Service and Innovation

While digital transformation has been a critical component of the defense community for decades, advancements in areas such as data science, networked systems, and Joint warfighting integration have exponentially accelerated this progress in recent years—and shown us what's possible.

"We've reached an inflection point," according to Chris Azzano, who recently joined Booz Allen after more than 30 years in the U.S. Air Force.  “We will look back on this time as a ‘revolution in military affairs.’”

Azzano shares more about his career path, what led him to Booz Allen, and why right now is “an exciting time to be working on defense solutions.”

Azzano’s love of aviation and innovation began in his early childhood. “My mother says my first word was ‘jet,’ and technology has always fascinated me,” he said. “For human ingenuity and persistence to transform raw materials into a machine that can go to the far reaches of the atmosphere, or to the moon and beyond? I can’t imagine anything more exciting than that.”

This passion drove him to study aerospace engineering at Purdue University and Stanford University. Meanwhile, a family tradition of service—his father is a World War II veteran—led him to the Air Force.

Over three decades, Azzano achieved a multifaceted Air Force career as a decorated combat aviator, test pilot, and acquisition leader, culminating as commander of the Air Force Test Center. He also commanded four other Air Force units at the wing, group, and squadron level, and earned a master’s degree in military strategic studies from the Air Force Air War College.

During active duty service, Azzano became a specialist in aviation operations, risk management, and best-value roadmaps for emerging technologies. Over many years of experience in combat operations and the test and evaluation community, he also developed a keen appreciation for the importance of integrating capabilities across domains.

He called the move to joint operations “an inevitable progression” and “more than a good idea, it’s practically a law of nature. Integrated, all-domain operations are the future of the defense enterprise.” 

“The services have different cultures and missions, and many unique capabilities—they need to be integrated and compatible,” he explained. “As we collect unprecedented volumes of data and leverage emerging digital technologies to transform that data into decision-quality information, the power of Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) will be revealed. That digital underpinning is essential—it will connect the services and our partners, allowing us to achieve a powerful synergy across warfighting domains.”

Industry partners like Booz Allen play a vital role in helping the Department of Defense (DOD) develop this digital architecture efficiently and effectively, Azzano said.

“It’s not possible for DOD to maintain deep expertise in every technology or functional area, so defense leaders rely on partnerships with industry, academia, and international teammates to advance warfighting architectures and implement new technologies efficiently and effectively. And when you have a seemingly endless list of requirements to ensure national security, you place a high premium on efficiency,” he said.

After years of work, the defense community has “developed a better feel for the requirements of JADC2 and is beginning to understand the art of the possible in all-domain operations,” he said. “Now it’s time to put new technologies into action: figuring out which challenges to address first, which applications are at the right maturity level, and which solutions offer the maximum ROI—and then taking bold action.”

“In the acquisition field, we are reinvigorating the concept of ‘spiraling’ which establishes core capabilities then builds upon them in an incremental way to evolve and mature a system of systems,” he said.

It's the latest step in an ongoing, and infinitely engaging, journey. 

“Whether designing and testing new aircraft, spacecraft, or cyber capabilities, or creating a new global command and control grid leveraging the data sciences, there are opportunities today we never imagined 20 years ago,” Azzano said. “It’s an exciting time to be involved in what’s next.”