Leonardo Urbano

Dr. Leonardo F. Urbano is an assistant group leader of the Interceptor and Sensor Technology Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He serves as the Laboratory's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) deputy program manager, providing strategic and technical leadership of the Laboratory’s Sea-based Terminal and Glide Phase Interceptor programs for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). He is also the program manager of the Laboratory’s ground-based Terminal High Altitude Air Defense program and Hypersonic Technology and System Performance program, both supporting MDA. 

Since joining the Laboratory in 2015, Urbano has developed advanced target tracking and missile guidance algorithms to defeat advanced threats; architected end-to-end kill chain simulations to enhance fleet defense against advanced maneuvering reentry vehicles and hypersonic glide vehicle threats; and led a number of live radio-frequency field tests to characterize and enhance the electronic protection capabilities of surface radars and missile seekers across the Missile Defense System. 

Prior to joining the Laboratory, Urbano was a senior missile systems engineer at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems in Moorestown, New Jersey, for 10 years. In this role, he led the integration of the SM-6 Dual I and Dual II missiles into the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Weapon System for anti–air warfare and endo-atmospheric terminal BMD missions, and developed advanced midcourse guidance and maneuvering threat tracking algorithms. He also led over a dozen waterfront integration tests and live fire test events onboard U.S. destroyers and cruisers. 

Urbano earned BS, MS, and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Drexel University in 2005, 2007, and 2014, respectively. His research interests include guidance, navigation, and control of interceptor missiles, and multisensor multitarget tracking and data fusion.