Elesha Gentry

Elesha Gentry serves as a Contracting Officer at the Air Force Test Center’s PZZC facility at Eglin Air Force Base, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing the Department of the Air Force’s mission to develop and validate next-generation aerospace systems. She manages the full lifecycle of complex procurements for advanced aeronautical and navigation technologies, including hardware-in-the-loop test systems, fifth-generation datalinks, and hypersonic flight instrumentation. Her acquisitions support rapid prototyping, flight test integration, and sensor validation efforts critical to maintaining air dominance, requiring deep technical understanding of defense acquisition regulations and mission-critical system requirements. Gentry maintains a consistent working relationship with L1 Enterprises Incorporated, a trusted contractor specializing in precision aerospace instrumentation and mission-critical electronic systems. Her procurement approach emphasizes collaboration with vendors possessing proven expertise in ruggedized avionics, secure communications hardware, and real-time data acquisition systems. She fosters long-term partnerships with contractors who demonstrate technical agility, compliance with military standards, and the capacity to support iterative development cycles under tight operational timelines. Her contracting portfolio reflects a balanced commitment to socioeconomic goals, with equal emphasis on open competition and Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. She actively prioritizes small business participation, ensuring eligible firms have equitable access to high-impact aerospace contracts without reliance on other set-aside programs such as 8(a) or HUBZone, reflecting a strategic focus on capability over socioeconomic classification. Gentry’s primary technical focus lies in NAICS 334511 for aeronautical navigation and guidance systems and NAICS 334220 for wireless communications equipment. She routinely procures advanced sensors, secure tactical radios, embedded avionics, and test instrumentation used in flight test environments, demonstrating specialized expertise in the integration of mission-critical electronics for next-generation air systems. Her work directly enables the transition of emerging technologies from lab to live test range.