Capt. Michael D. Smith
Commanding Officer, ONR Global
Capt. Michael D. Smith grew up in Southern California and Southern Spain. He graduated from David Glasgow Farragut High School at Naval Base Rota, Spain, in 1981. He earned his bachelor of arts from the University of California at Los Angeles in June 1986, followed by his master of arts from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif., in December 1994.
Smith was commissioned after completing Aviation Officers Candidate School in April 1987. In April 1988, he was winged as a naval flight officer at Mather Air Force Base, Sacramento, Calif. After winging, Smith reported to VP-30, the East Coast P-3 Orion Fleet Replacement Squadron at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., for six months of P-3 orientation training.
Smith’s P-3 tours have been with VP-45, VP-30 and VP-9. In his first fleet tour with the Pelicans of VP-45, he was a designated patrol plane mission commander and tactical coordinator. While assigned to VP-30, Smith was an NFO instructor and held ground jobs as the student control officer and administrative department head. During his department head tour with the Golden Eagles of VP-9, he served as the tactics officer, administrative officer, training officer and completed his tour as the operations officer in February 2001. Smith was a designated mission commander, tactical coordinator, instructor tactical coordinator and mission commander/tactical coordinator of a Chief of Naval Operations Special Projects “Beartrap” Aircrew.
His non-flying tours include the flag lieutenant and aide to the commander, Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill.; the V-2 division officer and catapult/arresting gear officer or “shooter” aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70); the P-3C Update III deputy program manager assigned to Naval Air System Command's Maritime Surveillance Aircraft Program Office (PMA-290); commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Five's Air Officer and officer in charge of Tactical Air Control Squadron (TACRON) 12 Detachment One; and the deputy chief of staff and assistant chief of staff for Operations and Requirements on the staff of commander, Antisubmarine Warfare Force, U.S. Third Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Smith commanded TACRON 12 from June 2005 to September 2006 and U.S. Navy Region Center, Singapore, with additional duties as deputy commander, Singapore Area Coordinator, from July 2009 to June 2011. Smith assumed command of the Office of Naval Research Global in July 2011.
He has been awarded the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (six awards), the Navy Achievement Medal (two awards), and various campaign, unit and service awards.