Col. Ryan Simms, USAF Director of Engagements, and Chief, Air and Space Force Foreign Liaison Office, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs
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AIAA DEFENSE Forum 2024
Colonel Ryan S. Simms is the Director of Engagements and Chief of the Air and Space Force Foreign Liaison Office in the office of Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs (SAF/IA). He leads principal advisors to USAF and USSF senior
leaders on security cooperation efforts with key nations through cooperative engagement with foreign senior defense officials worldwide. He also directs all foreign service attaché affairs and engagements on behalf of SAF/IA and Department of the Air Force senior leadership. Col Simms serves at SAF/IA following an overseas assignment as Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force and graduation from Air War College at Maxwell AFB, AL. Prior assignments include command of the Air Force’s largest high-altitude remotely piloted aircraft squadron, and direct service to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force as ISR and RPA Policy Specialist,
Headquarters Air Force Executive Action Group. In addition to operational experience as a manned and unmanned pilot, Col Simms draws from proficiency in international and diplomatic policy to facilitate key communication and decisions among the Secretariat, Air Staff, Joint Staff, and other Services on the Air Force's top priorities
An Air Force Academy graduate of 2001, Col Simms followed his initial tour as an airlift wing staff officer with pilot training and assignment to McChord AFB, WA as aircraft commander of the C-17 Globemaster. Logging over 1,500 hours, Col Simms flew over 100 combat airlift missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as theater airlift missions throughout the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. He later transferred to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale to support operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM as RQ-4 Global Hawk instructor and evaluator. Following two deployments as a launch-and-recovery pilot overseas, Col Simms distinguished himself as the Wing’s lead RQ-4 tactician and subject matter expert in high altitude ISR, creating enroute procedures and drafting unprecedented military policies that paved the way for routine transit of RPAs through international airspace. During his
time at Beale, he authored tactics, techniques, and procedures for two new airframes, the RQ-4B and EQ- 4B, enabled the historic deployment of two new forward operating locations overseas, and coordinated RQ-4 humanitarian aid/disaster relief efforts in the US, Haiti, and Japan.
Throughout his years of service, Col Simms performed numerous other roles, including Air Operations Center ISR Division Officer, Mission Planner, Standardization and Evaluation Officer, and Executive Officer for operational and staff-level commanders. He is a Command Pilot with over 2,700 flying hours.
leaders on security cooperation efforts with key nations through cooperative engagement with foreign senior defense officials worldwide. He also directs all foreign service attaché affairs and engagements on behalf of SAF/IA and Department of the Air Force senior leadership. Col Simms serves at SAF/IA following an overseas assignment as Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Force and graduation from Air War College at Maxwell AFB, AL. Prior assignments include command of the Air Force’s largest high-altitude remotely piloted aircraft squadron, and direct service to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force as ISR and RPA Policy Specialist,
Headquarters Air Force Executive Action Group. In addition to operational experience as a manned and unmanned pilot, Col Simms draws from proficiency in international and diplomatic policy to facilitate key communication and decisions among the Secretariat, Air Staff, Joint Staff, and other Services on the Air Force's top priorities
An Air Force Academy graduate of 2001, Col Simms followed his initial tour as an airlift wing staff officer with pilot training and assignment to McChord AFB, WA as aircraft commander of the C-17 Globemaster. Logging over 1,500 hours, Col Simms flew over 100 combat airlift missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as theater airlift missions throughout the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. He later transferred to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale to support operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM as RQ-4 Global Hawk instructor and evaluator. Following two deployments as a launch-and-recovery pilot overseas, Col Simms distinguished himself as the Wing’s lead RQ-4 tactician and subject matter expert in high altitude ISR, creating enroute procedures and drafting unprecedented military policies that paved the way for routine transit of RPAs through international airspace. During his
time at Beale, he authored tactics, techniques, and procedures for two new airframes, the RQ-4B and EQ- 4B, enabled the historic deployment of two new forward operating locations overseas, and coordinated RQ-4 humanitarian aid/disaster relief efforts in the US, Haiti, and Japan.
Throughout his years of service, Col Simms performed numerous other roles, including Air Operations Center ISR Division Officer, Mission Planner, Standardization and Evaluation Officer, and Executive Officer for operational and staff-level commanders. He is a Command Pilot with over 2,700 flying hours.