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Brigadier General
Martin E.B. France
Permanent Professor 2005–2018
B.S., United States Air Force Academy
M.S., Stanford University
M.S., National Defense University
Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Marty France, the Academy’s 80th Permanent Professor, was born in Bitburg, Germany, in 1959 and raised in Glendale, Arizona. He earned his Air Force commission from the United States Air Force Academy in 1981, graduating with Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering Mechanics and Engineering Sciences. His first assignment was as a Laser Systems Structural Engineer at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM. In 1983 he became a graduate student at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and earned a Master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1984. He then joined the AF Academy faculty as an Instructor in the Department of Astronautics. In 1986 he entered graduate school at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg and completed his PhD in 1989. He returned to the Academy as an Associate Professor in the Astronautics Department. After eight months at the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, CA, Marty became an Exchange Engineer in the Office Nationale d’Etudes et de Récherche Aérospatiale, Toulouse, France, in 1992. In 1994 he entered the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, AL, graduating in 1995. Marty was then assigned as Command Lead for Space Support Mission Area Plans, Directorate of Plans, HQ AF Space Command, Peterson AFB, CO, until 1997 when he became the Chief, Spacelift Requirements Branch, Directorate of Requirements. Marty moved to the Pentagon in 1998 and became the Chief of the Space Programs and Requirements Branch, HQ USAF, Washington, DC. In 1999 he moved across the Potomac River to the National War College, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, and graduated in 2000 as a Distinguished Graduate with a Master’s degree in National Security Strategy. Marty returned to the Pentagon to serve as the Chief, C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) and Space Branch, Requirements and Acquisition Division, Joint Chiefs of Staff until 2002 when, for seven months, he became a Joint Concepts and Architecture Analyst, Joint Warfighting Capabilities and Analysis Directorate, JCS. In late 2002 he was assigned as a Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, VA. In 2004 Marty became the Chief, Space Superiority Division and in mid-2005, Deputy Director of Requirements, HQ AF Space Command, Peterson AFB, CO. He was appointed Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Astronautics in 2005. From 2008 to 2009 Marty returned to Washington on a sabbatical and was Chief Scientist and Science Advisor to the Director, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization before returning to his Academy post. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and spent the last five months of 2014 as a Visiting Scholar at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, teaching undergraduate courses and conducting research in Nanyang’s Satellite Research Centre. Following the Waldo Canyon fire just outside Colorado Springs, Marty was awarded the city’s “Spirit of the Springs” Award for Public Service in 2012 for his efforts leading restoration work. He was the Officer Representative to the USAFA men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams, 2006–2018. An avid photographer, his work has been featured in four separate exhibitions in the Permanent Professors Art Gallery in USAFA’s Fairchild Hall. Marty was promoted to brigadier general and retired in 2018.