Steve Justice

Career at Lockheed Skunk Works

Steve Justice is an aerospace engineer with over 40 years of experience in advanced defense systems development. A 1978 graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in aerospace engineering, Justice began his career at General Dynamics Fort Worth Division, where he contributed to some of the most advanced fighter aircraft programs in existence, including the F-111, F-16, and F-16XL platforms. In 1984, he joined the legendary Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, the classified advanced development division responsible for stealth aircraft and radical propulsion concepts.

During his 31 years at Skunk Works, Justice held positions of increasing responsibility, serving as a structural and systems engineer on two of the most revolutionary aircraft ever built: the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter and the YF-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter. He rose to Director of Advanced Systems, where he coordinated emerging program strategies across the Skunk Works' Advanced Systems organization and oversaw integration of next-generation technologies. Justice received the Kelly Johnson Inventor of the Year award in both 1993 and 1999, recognition named after Skunk Works' founder. He also earned the LM Aeronautics Company AeroStar award and Corporate NOVA award for leadership in 2005. Justice holds 2 awarded patents and 5 classified patent disclosures.

Transition to Public UAP Work

After retiring from Lockheed Martin, Justice became Chief Operating Officer and Aerospace Division Director at To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science, an organization founded in 2017 by musician and entrepreneur Tom DeLonge in partnership with former Pentagon officials Luis Elizondo and Christopher Mellon. This transition marked a significant shift toward public engagement with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) research—a field where Justice's classified background gives him unique credibility.

At To The Stars, Justice leads the Aerospace Division's mission to understand and develop next-generation energy and propulsion concepts inspired by observed UAP capabilities. In 2018, he directed the launch of the ADAM Research Project (Acquisition and Data Analysis of Materials), investigating exotic materials allegedly recovered from UAP encounters. Justice has stated that "the structure and composition of these materials are not from any known existing military or commercial application." The division's work encompasses beamed energy propulsion, electrogravitics, and advanced electromagnetic vehicle concepts.

Public Statements on Propulsion Physics

Justice has emerged as a public voice articulating how UAP observations map onto advanced physics and engineering principles. In various interviews, he has described a theoretical "Advanced Electromagnetic Vehicle" as "a concept for an international point-to-point transportation craft that could dramatically reduce the current travel limits of distance and time. It mimics the capabilities observed in Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon by employing a drive system that alters the space-time metric."

This language bridges classified aerospace concepts with cutting-edge physics—referencing the kind of metric engineering that appears in theoretical work on Alcubierre drives and other exotic propulsion models. Justice has emphasized that while the physics is not fully understood, the underlying principles are mathematically tractable: "We have glimpses of how the physics of this works, but we need to harvest technologies from the Science Division to 'realize' the capability."

Media and Credibility

Justice appeared prominently in the 2019 History Channel docuseries Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation, executive-produced by Tom DeLonge. In the series, he provided technical analysis of military UAP encounters (including the 2015 Gimbal and Go Fast incidents) and discussed advanced aerospace concepts. His demeanor in interviews is notably measured and technical rather than sensationalist—he frames UAP propulsion not as magic but as an engineering problem waiting to be solved.

Justice's credibility rests on his transparency about his background and his avoidance of unfounded claims. He does not claim to possess recovered alien technology but rather frames To The Stars' work as exploratory science applied to genuine physical anomalies. He has been interviewed by credible aerospace and science outlets and maintains active visibility in aerospace professional communities.