Epirus announced the addition of Dr. Matt Markel, a globally renowned expert in radar, autonomy and electronic warfare (EW) systems to the company’s executive leadership team as chief technology officer.

“Dr. Markel’s expertise across a spectrum of technology disciplines will be critical to Epirus as we expand our short-range air defense product suite,” said Andy Lowery, Epirus CEO. “Today’s era of asymmetric warfare demands a one-to-many defensive posture. With Matt leading our technology set, Epirus is in a prime position to provide that one-to-many solution across the entire kill chain.”

With decades of experience at the nexus of technology innovation and national security, Dr. Markel was previously chief executive officer of Spartan Radar, a leading sensor software company optimizing vehicle sensor data for safety and reliability, vice president of radar systems at autonomous driving software developer Ghost Autonomy and leader of the radar team at Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project, where he delivered multiple generations of tracking and imaging radars.

Before his time in the technology industry, Dr. Markel served as principal engineering fellow on Raytheon’s (now RTX) Space and Airborne Systems technical team where he was heavily involved in the transition of key radar and EW capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Dr. Markel brings a unique project portfolio and renowned technical acumen to Epirus. He has served on a U.S. Government Accountability Office panel of experts for Technology Readiness Assessments and is the inventor on multiple patents and trade secrets from his tenures at Raytheon and Waymo.

“This is a pivotal time for forward-thinking defense technology companies like Epirus,” said Dr. Markel. “Our adversaries continue to advance their military systems and supplement them with mass produceable, commercially available technologies. The complexity of modern threats demands a fresh look at innovation and scalable defense systems to get and stay ahead.”