Colonel Kirk Kloeppel is Director, Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. He directs more than 500 military, civilian, and contractor personnel who develop, integrate, and transition the science and technology for air-launched munitions. The directorate performs research on precision guidance, missile guidance and control, computational mechanics, smart sub-munitions, warheads, and explosives.

Colonel Kloeppel entered the Air Force in 1984 and was commissioned through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps as a distinguished military graduate. A career engineer, he was first assigned as an engineer on the Advanced Cruise Missile program at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Following that assignment, he became a flight test engineer with Strategic Air Command conducting offensive weapon systems tests. He was selected for the Education with Industry program working in the Composites IPT for the F-22.

Colonel Kloeppel\’s next assignment was back as a flight test engineer. He has served staff positions at U.S. Atlantic Command and Headquarters Air Force focusing on future warfighting concepts through experimentation. He moved to Robins AFB, Georgia, to lead the establishment of an Engineering home office for the Air Logistic Center engineering force.