Lieutenant Colonel Vinny V. Pande is the Materiel Leader for SpaceWERX Ventures. In this role, he oversees the Space Force’s $450M annual venture
investment portfolio across Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 SBIR investments. Before this, Lt Col Pande was the Branch Chief for Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Persistent Tactical Sensing branch as the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking (SRT) Branch chief. In this role, he leads a 10-person team overseeing a $25M effort to bring commercial space capabilities to Combatant Commands.
Previously, Lt Col Pande was the Program Manager on the CASINO program office, a collaboration with DARPA to bring proliferated LEO satellite communications to military utility. Further more, Tetra rapid-prototyping satellite program under the Development Corp, Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. In this role, he leads a 15-member team overseeing a $300M system which aims to develop a new satellite vehicle baseline and launch it on an annual basis. Furthermore, Maj Pande leads the Space Vision 2030 program, a PEO initiative on sourcing innovative technologies for space architecture maturation.
Lt Col Pande is also a joint-accredited Foreign Area Officer in the INDOPACOM region. In that capacity, he was the Director of Air Force Programs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. In that role, Lt Col. Pande was the head of a $17B portfolio of the U.S. government’s air & space engagements and military modernization efforts with the Indian government. His duties were directly supportive of COCOM, SECDEF, SECSTATE, and POTUS priorities in the INDOPACOM region. Lt Col Pande was the Embassy lead negotiator for the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement with India: a foundational agreement enabling sharing of NSA cryptographic tools with a foreign partner.
Prior to his overseas service, Lt Col Pande was the program manager on the SBIRS program supporting both the legacy DSP constellation, and the new HEO satellite development. Lt Col Pande also served as a Program Manager on one of the NSA’s premiere software systems (Real-Time Regional Gateway). There, he led a team of 18 contractors & civilian project managers in identifying and incorporating intelligence requirements into the system’s capabilities. He also led a nine member source selection team for an Acquisition Category 1 program.
Lt Col Pande has also served as the Executive Officer for Andrews Air Force Base’s largest Group. There he led 4 military members in supporting the requirements of the Group Commander and processing annual reports and decorations for over 600
personnel. His other assignments have included serving as the Officer-In-Charge for the lodging facility for Andrews AFB.