The 2011 Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Award and the Technology Achievement Awards were presented by MDA director LTG Patrick O'Reilly during the ninth annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference in Washington, D.C. March 21-23, 2011.

The Honorable Paul G. Kaminski, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology, was the recipient for the 2011 Ronald W. Reagan Missile Defense Award. Dr. Kaminski is currently chairman and CEO of Technovation, Inc., a small consulting company dedicated to fostering innovation and the development of business and investment strategies related to the application of advanced technology in the aerospace and defense sectors.

Dr. Kaminski served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology from Oct. 3, 1994 to May 16, 1997. He was responsible for all Department of Defense (DoD) research, development, and acquisition programs. He also had responsibility for DoD logistics, environmental security, international programs, the defense industrial base, and military construction. The annual budget for these entities exceeded $100 billion.

The Technology Achievement Award was presented to the Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) team for their history-making directed energy demonstration in February 2010. The ALTB system destroyed a threat representative missile during its boost phase with a megawatt-class laser fired from an airborne platform. This extraordinary feat culminated over a decade of development, testing, and technological advancement and demonstrated the revolutionary potential to destroy targets at the speed of light.

The ALTB team recipients included Brig Gen Robert D. McMurry, Mr. David Bakke, Lt Col Jeffrey E. Warmka, Mr. Richard Flanders, Mr. Guy Renard, and Mr. Paul Shattack.

The Technology Achievement Award was also presented to the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) team for their leadership and technical acumen in the development of the two STSS Demonstration satellites. Their revolutionary breakthroughs in the use of infrared sensors for birth-to-death tracking of missile targets culminated over 25 years of research and development. The STSS team demonstrated the world's first stereo tracking of a missile target through boost and mid-course phases, a long-awaited milestone for MDA.

The STSS team recipients included Mr. Steven G. Leonard, Dr. Nat Bhaskar, and Mr. David A. Bloodgood.