Pierre Sprey

Pierre Michel Sprey (November 22, 1937 – August 5, 2021) was a record producer and defense analyst. Working with John Boyd and Thomas P. Christie at the Pentagon, he was associated with the self-dubbed 'Fighter Mafia', which advocated the use of energy–maneuverability theory in fighter jet design. Sprey claimed to be involved in the design of several military jets, including the F-16, A-10, and F-22. Notably, he was once a harsh critic of the F-22, despite later claiming to have designed it.

Sprey was born in Nice, France, in 1936 to Jewish parents and raised in New York, U.S. Sprey was admitted to Yale University at the age of fifteen and graduated four years later with a double major in French literature and mechanical engineering. He later continued his education at Cornell University where he studied mathematical statistics and operations research. He subsequently worked at Grumman Aircraft as a consulting statistician on space and commercial transportation projects. From 1966 to 1970 he was a special assistant at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.