Susan M Palmer

Susan M. Palmer serves as a Contracting Officer within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate (AFRL/PZL), responsible for managing complex acquisitions in advanced aerospace propulsion, hypersonics, and high-performance materials. She plays a critical role in executing the agency’s mission to accelerate next-generation air and space dominance by procuring cutting-edge technologies that support adaptive flight control systems, thermal protection materials, and mission-critical sensor integration. Her portfolio primarily consists of research and development contracts under full and open competition, emphasizing technical innovation and rapid prototyping to meet urgent warfighter needs. Palmer maintains enduring partnerships with leading defense and aerospace contractors including UES INC, General Electric Company, DCS Corporation, Spirit Aerosystems Inc., and Advanced Thermoplastic Composites LLC. These relationships are built on sustained engagement in technical collaboration, performance-based contracting, and systems integration efforts spanning propulsion subsystems, avionics, and advanced manufacturing. She consistently engages prime contractors with proven capabilities in high-temperature materials, turbomachinery, and embedded computing systems to deliver mission-ready solutions under tight developmental timelines. Her procurement strategy reflects a strict preference for full and open competition, with no set-asides utilized in recent awards. This reflects the highly specialized, technically demanding nature of the work, where only a limited pool of vendors possesses the requisite engineering expertise and classified facility clearances. While small business participation is not formally prioritized through socioeconomic set-asides, she actively encourages subcontracting opportunities for qualified small firms within prime contract performance plans. Palmer’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334511 for aeronautical navigation and guidance systems and NAICS 334413 for semiconductor and related device manufacturing. She regularly procures advanced avionics, flight control electronics, high-temperature sensors, and integrated propulsion control units—technologies essential to hypersonic vehicle systems and next-generation jet engines. Her domain expertise centers on the integration of mission-critical hardware with real-time software architectures to enable autonomous flight and adaptive propulsion response.