Venture-backed defense technology startup Epirus has appointed military veterans John Abizaid and Robert Schmidle to the company’s advisory board.
The appointments come as the company aims to address the Department of Defense’s need for technologies that counter unmanned aircraft system threats, Epirus said Monday.
A West Point graduate, Abizaid spent 34 years at the U.S. Army and was Central Command’s longest-serving commander. He received recognition as a U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame inductee in 2015 and served as the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia following his military career, which included tours in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Schmidle previously served as Cyber Command’s first deputy commander, the U.S. Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation the principal deputy director for cost assessment and program evaluation at the Department of Defense.
He retired from USMC with a rank of lieutenant general.