Faces of Astrion: Mike Angle

Meet retired Colonel Mike Angle and BD Executive

The Faces of Astrion series celebrates the talented, innovative and dedicated individuals who drive our mission forward. Through these spotlights, we’re highlighting the experience, insights and passion of team members who make real impact every day. In celebration of Veterans Month, we are featuring Mike Angle, a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

Q: Tell us a bit about your role? 

Mike: As BD Executive, I’m responsible for developing and executing growth strategies for our MDA and Navy accounts that support an overall Astrion growth strategy. 

Q: What has been your favorite project at Astrion? 

Mike: I’ve really enjoyed learning MDA & Navy missions and collaborating with all the great professionals at Astrion.  However, having the chance to observe the initial steps for Golden Dome and being part of leading its strategy for Astion has been a real treat.

Q: What is interesting about you? (both professionally and personally)

Mike: Personally, I have an orchard where I grow a couple hundred American and Chinese chestnut, walnut, pecan, hazelnut and fruit trees.  This stems from a vision my father had of bringing back the American Chestnut tree that became practically extinct in the first half of the 20^th century. 

Professionally, I have a few. I was Launch Director for both the Mars Rovers when I worked as Director of Operations for the 1^st Space Launch Squadron at Cape Canaveral.  I was a deployed commander for a counter-space unit and the ROTC Commander at the University of Tennessee where I got to meet Pat Summit and Dolly Parton.  And lastly, I helped stand up USSPACECOM in Colorado Springs and was involved in writing the plan to stand up the 4-star headquarters while on active duty. 

Q: How do you envision Golden Dome taking shape over the next several years?

Mike: The “Golden Dome for America” concept, a whole-of-nation effort to build an integrated, layered homeland missile defense architecture, parallels the Saturn V and Apollo moonshot in both scale and purpose.

Like the race to the Moon, it requires national unity, industrial mobilization, technological innovation, and sustained leadership across government, industry, and academia.  The Apollo program unified thousands of contractors, engineers, and scientists toward a singular national objective; the Golden Dome calls for that same collaboration to achieve deterrence through denial, a protective shield for the homeland.

In defense terms, it embodies the Third Offset Strategy: leveraging advanced sensors, AI, autonomous systems, hypersonic defense, and resilient C2 networks to maintain U.S. strategic advantage against peer adversaries.  Where the first two offsets relied on nuclear deterrence and precision-guided dominance, the third offset integrates data, speed, and cross-domain capability, which now turned inward to defend the homeland.  Beyond this, Golden Dome represents a new era of strategic deterrence.  It will allow the United States to truly negotiate from a position of strength but hopefully be seen as “whole-of-nation” defensive enterprise rather than an offensive arms race.

In short:  The “Golden Dome” is America’s new moonshot; uniting national innovation and industry under a whole-of-nation effort to achieve technological overmatch and deterrent credibility, fulfilling the promise of the Third Offset in the defense of the nation itself.

Q: What motivates you in life?

Mike: My family.  I’ve always tried to be a good husband and set the right example for my children. I hope they are examples of my influencing positive change. 

Q: What advice would you give your younger self? 

Mike: The journey is the destination.  Embrace every moment and enjoy the ride.

Q: What does result with impact mean to you?

Mike: Team Humanity.  You can’t do very much alone.  I’ve found that if you surround yourself with good people, good things happen.  I try to make the people around me successful and provide them with the tools and autonomy to achieve great results for themselves and our customers.

Q: What has been the best invention and why? 

Mike: Definitely the vanilla milkshake.  It’s self-explanatory!

Q: What did you learn in the Air Force that has helped you in your career? 

Mike: I’ve learned discipline and teamwork. Skills that I have carried into my post-military career.

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