Deputy to the HQ Space Operations Command (HQ SpOC), Deputy Commanding General for Operations, United States Space Force. Chris Ayres has over 35 years of operational space, missile, missile defense experience for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force as a career military officer, and now as a civilian government official.  In his current role, he is responsible for current space operations, their delivery capabilities, and near-future space capability delivery of new missions.  He also focuses on the integration and delivery of advanced capabilities, Science and Technology, innovation, and protoyping into operational use for the new space service.  He holds degree in engineering from Clemson University, masters of engineering from University of Colorado, and masters of national security policy from National Defense University.