Dana King

Dana King serves as a Contract Negotiator within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate (FA8650), where they play a pivotal role in securing advanced aerospace technologies critical to U.S. air and space dominance. Responsible for negotiating complex research and development contracts, King facilitates the acquisition of next-generation propulsion systems, hypersonic flight components, and high-performance functional materials. Their work directly supports the agency’s mission to accelerate innovation in adaptive flight control and mission-critical material science, ensuring that technical requirements are met through legally compliant, performance-based contracting strategies. King maintains consistent, long-term relationships with leading aerospace and defense contractors including UES INC, General Electric Company, DCS Corporation, Spirit Aerosystems Inc, and Advanced Thermoplastic Composites LLC. These partnerships are characterized by deep technical collaboration, often involving iterative prototyping, technical data package reviews, and cost realism analyses. The negotiation approach emphasizes risk-sharing, milestone-driven deliverables, and performance incentives to align contractor outcomes with the Air Force’s rapid development goals in propulsion and materials science. There is no preference for socioeconomic set-asides; all acquisitions are conducted under full and open competition, reflecting the agency’s need for specialized technical capabilities only available through large, established industry partners with proven expertise in classified and high-consequence R&D environments. This reflects a deliberate strategy to prioritize technical readiness over socioeconomic targeting, ensuring mission-critical timelines are met without compromise. The agency’s procurement activity is exclusively focused on NAICS 541712—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). King specializes in acquiring advanced engineering services, computational modeling, materials characterization, and propulsion system integration, supporting projects that span from fundamental science to flight-ready prototypes in hypersonics and next-generation turbine systems.