Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Erich “HB” Hernandez-Baquero is the Vice President of Space Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance at Raytheon, an RTX business. He leads the development and sustainment of command & control, communications, and data processing systems for surveillance & reconnaissance missions from space in support of the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. Prior to this role, Hernandez-Baquero was the Director of Advanced Ground Systems in Department 22, Raytheon Intelligence and Space, where he led the development of mission solutions for multidomain operations leveraging advancements in autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, tracking, fusion, modeling and simulation, modern software, and distributed architectures.

Prior to joining RTX, Hernandez-Baquero served as the senior materiel leader of Integrated Ground Enterprise at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) where he led a wing-level joint organization life cycle acquisition of command and control and data processing systems supporting vital missions for the DOD and Intelligence Community.

Hernandez-Baquero served in a variety of acquisition programs for the USAF, including test and evaluation at the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate at Edwards Air Force Base, research and technology projects at the NRO, and advanced space programs that enabled new intelligence collection capabilities. Hernandez-Baquero was also a regional affairs specialist and served as advisor to the Inter-American Defense Board of the Organization of American States.

Hernandez-Baquero holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the United States Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and a doctorate degree in imaging science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.