Lieutenant Commander Jeff McLean is a Navy Test Pilot and currently serves as Project Officer for the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System, which made history recently as the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to make an arrested landing on an aircraft carrier. He and the X-47B test team are presently working to achieve the first autonomous aerial refueling of a UAV from an airborne tanker. In addition to UAV testing, Jeff performs flight tests on cutting edge programs for F/A-18 aircraft and aircraft carrier systems.

Jeff has flown the F/A-18 “Super Hornet” strike fighter aircraft for the Navy since 2008 and completed two combat deployments aboard the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, supporting ground forces as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. LCDR McLean has logged over 1,500 flight hours as aircraft commander of Navy fighter aircraft, 275 carrier landings, and over fifty combat missions, including air support for the Battles of Marjah and Kandahar.

Jeff graduated with honors and distinction from the US Naval Academy and earned an MA from Oxford University, where he studied as a Truman Scholar and Fulbright Scholar. He currently spends his weekends pursuing an MBA at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.