Senior acquisition official leaving DOD

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Robert McMahon will resign from his Pentagon post on Nov. 22, according to a Defense Department spokeswoman.

“Mr. McMahon appreciates the opportunity to have served the department both as a civilian and in uniform,” DOD spokeswoman Heather Babb said.

McMahon is leaving office as the Pentagon is trying to lower the sustainment cost of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to $25,000 per flying hour by fiscal year 2025. The current cost is $44,000 per flying hour.

Other defense officials have said the goal is not achievable in that time frame.

McMahon, a retired Air Force major general, has served as the ASD for sustainment since Oct. 12, 2018, a job that was created after DOD reorganized its acquisition management structure. Prior to that, McMahon served as the assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness from Nov. 30, 2017 to Oct. 11, 2018.

Before joining the Pentagon, McMahon was president of Fickling Management Services and worked as an executive at Boeing.