Pierre Sprey, member of the “Fighter Mafia,” and one of the designers of the famed A-10 Warthog passed away on August 5, 2021 at the age of 84.
Sprey was a defense analyst and record producer. As a defense analyst working together with John Boyd and Thomas P. Christie, he was a member of the legendary ‘Fighter Mafia‘, which advocated the use of energy–maneuverability theory in fighter design.
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Sprey consulted for Grumman Aircraft’s research department from 1958 to 1965, then joined Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s “Whiz Kids” in the Pentagon. There, in 1967, he met the Air Force’s brilliant and original tactician, Col. John Boyd and quickly became a disciple and collaborator of Boyd’s. Together with another innovative fighter pilot, Col. Everest Riccioni (U.S. Air Force), they started and carried out the concept design of the F-16 air-to-air fighter, then brought the program to fruition through five years of continuous bureaucratic guerilla warfare.
More or less simultaneously, Sprey also headed up the technical side of the Air Force’s concept design team for the A-10 close support fighter. Then, against even steeper opposition than the F-16 faced, he helped implement the A-10’s innovative live-fire, prototype fly-off competition and subsequent production.
Sprey left the Pentagon in 1971 but continued to consult actively on the F-16, the A-10, tanks and anti-tank weapons, and realistic operational/live-fire testing of major weapons. At the same time, he became a principal in two consulting firms; the first doing environmental research and analysis, the second consulting on international defense planning and weapons analysis. During this period, Sprey continued the seminal work of Col. Richard Hallock (U.S. Army/Airborne) in founding the field of combat history/combat data-based cost effectiveness analysis for air and ground weapons.
During the late 1970s, Colonel Boyd and Sprey, together with a small, dedicated group of Pentagon and congressional insiders, started the military reform movement. Attracting considerable attention from young officers, journalists and congressmen, the movement led to establishment of the Congressional Military Reform Caucus and to passage of several military reform bills in the early ’80s.
Sprey recorded music through his own label “Mapleshade.” His recording with the Addicts Rehabilitation Center (ARC) Choir singing “Walk With Me” appears in Kanye West‘s 2004 hit “Jesus Walks.” Sprey said he earned enough royalties from the West song “to support 30 of my money-losing jazz albums.”