Portfolio Acquisition Executive Fires (PAE Fires)
PAE Fires owns everything the Army shoots and everything that shoots back: long-range precision fires, cannon and rocket artillery, air and missile defense, and the battle command that integrates them. It absorbed PEO_Missiles_and_Space and most of the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, plus fires programs from PEO_Ground_Combat_Systems and JPEO_Armaments_and_Ammunition. It is the largest of the six portfolios by dollar value.
| Type | Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) |
| Location | Redstone_Arsenal, Huntsville, AL |
| Portfolio Acquisition Executive | Frank_Lozano (LTG) |
| Deputy PAE | Patrick_Costello (BG) |
| Executive Director | Miranda_Oden, dual-hatted as CPE_Integrated_Fires |
| Reports to | ASAALT for acquisition and materiel development; T2COM for requirements generation |
| Consolidates | PEO_Missiles_and_Space, most of RCCTO, self-propelled howitzer programs from PEO_Ground_Combat_Systems, fires programs from JPEO_Armaments_and_Ammunition |
| Established | Announced 14 November 2025; three CPEs activated 17 February 2026 |
Mission
Own the fires capability area: requirements, science and technology, contracting, acquisition, test, programming, sustainment, and international sales. PAE Fires inherited RCCTO’s rapid-prototyping culture and is explicitly trying to institutionalize it, including through Other Transaction Authority, direct hiring authority for specialized talent, and integrated DOTMLPF-P delivery.
It carries an embedded Senior Contracting Official with award authority, and in July 2026 stood up Reveille Forge as a rapid integration and capability delivery cell.
Subordinate Organizations
- CPE_Offensive_Fires — Robert_Mikesh_Jr (BG); surface-to-surface strike, artillery, hypersonics, anti-armor
- CPE_Defensive_Fires — Guy_Yelverton (COL); air and missile defense, counter-UAS effectors
- CPE_Integrated_Fires — Miranda_Oden; IBCS, fire control, joint targeting
In direct support: Army_Contracting_Command-Redstone Arsenal, ATEC, Aviation and Missile Command, DEVCOM_Aviation_and_Missile_Center, and the Fires_Center_of_Excellence at Fort Sill for requirements.
Program Element families
See the three CPE pages for detail. Procurement rolls up through Missile Procurement, Army and Procurement of Weapons and Tracked Combat Vehicles. Headline RDT&E lines: 0605231A PrSM, 0604182A Hypersonics, 0604114A LTAMD, 0605457A AIAMD, 0605052A IFPC.
Why it matters
Huntsville is the address for Army fires money. Redstone_Arsenal concentrates the PAE, all three CPEs, the contracting center, the test center, the materiel command, and the science and technology center within a few miles.
RCCTO’s absorption is the interesting part. RCCTO was the Army’s proof that OTAs, direct hiring, and prototype-to-field cycles could work. Folding it into a permanent portfolio is either the institutionalization of that model or its dilution. Watch which.
This is where the munitions capacity debate lands. Interceptor and missile production rates, multiyear procurement, and industrial base expansion all run through this portfolio, alongside CPE_Ammunition_Energetics for conventional rounds.
Low-cost mass is a stated priority. The Low-Cost Interceptor push and the largest xTech prize pool in the program’s history are open, funded invitations to non-traditional entrants.
See Also
- ASAALT — acquisition chain
- T2COM — requirements chain; Fires_Center_of_Excellence
- CPE_Offensive_Fires, CPE_Defensive_Fires, CPE_Integrated_Fires
- RCCTO, PEO_Missiles_and_Space — predecessor organizations
- PAE_Maneuver, PAE_Maneuver_Air, PAE_C2_CC2, PAE_Agile_Sustainment_Ammo, PAE_Layered_Protection_CBRN
- Army_Acquisition_Reform_2025, Kill_Chain, Defense_Acquisition_System, JCIDS