John Shapland is the Senior Director for Operations, Innovation, and Exercises for Stellar Solutions, Inc. With nearly three decades of service as an Air Force officer, retiring as a brigadier general, he is a developmental test pilot with over 4,000 flying hours and has extensive experience in flight operations, flight test, command and control, missile defense, and cyber operations.
Shaps is highly experienced in leading allies across Europe and the Middle East to strengthen national security while enhancing their air, space and cyberspace capabilities. His unique expertise and proven record of building highly capable teams to overcome the most complex multinational security challenges enables him to provide clients a perfect balance of strategic leadership, international acumen and technical expertise.
Having attended Euro-NATO Pilot Training, British Test Pilot School, and French Joint Service War College in Paris, his ability to work in partnership with our nations’ allies is second to none. Follow-on assignments to NATO Headquarters in Brussels, the US Embassy in Baghdad, and the US Embassy in Tel Aviv provide John with extraordinary international relations and diplomatic expertise. Additionally, John directed operations for Air Force Materiel Command, blending his flight test expertise with the contracting functions to deliver senior leader insight into the acquisition and sustainment mission sets and the future development of next generation US Air Force air, space, and cyber systems.
Shaps is currently based in Europe and teaches Stability & Dynamics and High Order Flight Control laws as an Instructor Pilot in the variable stability Lear-25D at the British and French Test Pilots Schools. He is optimally located to support short-notice projects in the UK or on the European continent.
Shaps’ recent exercise experience as a Stellar Advisor includes EUCOM’s Austere Challenge joint exercise series and USAFE’s Ballistic Missile Defense Table Top Exercise.
Security Clearance: TS/SCI and NATO Secret
USAF Military bio: available here
