Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe
Director, Strategic Systems Programs
Johnny Ray Wolfe, Jr., was born in 1965 in Somerset, Texas. He earned an undergraduate degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s degree from the Naval Postgraduate School.
He served as assistant weapons officer on two naval vessels and became lead systems engineer on a Ballistic Missile Defense Office project. He worked with Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) and later assisted in Fire Control and Guidance. He served as technical division head of the SSP Program Management Office and technical investigator. He served in many roles in SSP headquarters before becoming a program executive in the Missile Defense Agency. He was promoted and became director of SSP in 2018.
Cooper is married to Anne and they have two sons.
In the News…
Vice Admiral Johnny Wolfe, director for Strategic Systems Programs, testified before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee regarding the modification of Virginia-class attack submarines to install nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles.
Vice Admiral Wolfe told the Senators that his office “is… supporting ongoing discussions between the administration and Congress on options to execute the SLCM-N program in a manner that balances cost, deterrence value, and risk to the program of record and the Joint Force. Executing this program successfully will require careful balancing of SLCM-N programmatic manning with ongoing Navy programs, which draw from a limited pool of experienced government personnel and the same nuclear weapons industrial base.”
Referring to the weapons systems, platforms, and infrastructure, he said, ““Nuclear modernization will take time.“
When asked how much it would cost, Vice Admiral Wolfe said, “It would be premature to give a cost estimate of the modification.”
