Brad Herndon - Principal

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Brad Herndon is Principal at Fortress Forge LLC, an AI-enhanced business development consulting firm. Fortress Forge empowers defense innovators to conquer complex markets with precision and foresight.  By coupling proprietary AI-driven analytics and strategic intelligence with deep industry experience and relationships, the firm infuses science into the art of business development - accelerating contract wins and forging unbreakable partnerships. 

Prior to founding Fortress Forge, Brad served as Vice President of Customer Operations for John Cockerill Defense America, subsidiary of Belgium-based John Cockerill Defense, a world leader for integrated precision lethality solutions for light and medium combat vehicles. As VP Customer Operations, he was responsible for strategy, capture, and new business development with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as well as partner relations with combat vehicle primes and component suppliers. Brad also served as interim General Manager, during which time the company won and successfully executed a turret design contract under the Army's Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (now XM-30) program.

Before to joining John Cockerill Defense America in 2019, Brad held business development positions of increasing responsibility with Raytheon, ATK, SRCTec, and Manhattan Construction.

During his 20-year Army career, Brad commanded a Target Acquisition Detachment and M109A6 Paladin (155mm, Self-Propelled Howitzer) Firing Battery. He served as Fire Support Coordinator at Rifle Company, Combat Aviation and Light Infantry Brigade, and Division level, and as Operations Officer (S3) at Battalion and Brigade level. 

Brad served two combat tours in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division, the first in 2002 as Fire Support Officer for 2nd Brigade during Operation Anaconda, and as Fires and Effects Coordinator for Coalition/Joint Task Force (CJTF) - Mountain during Operation Enduring Freedom. During his second tour in 2004, he served as Night Chief of Operations for CJTF-180, and as CJTF-180 Liaison Officer to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Brad’s final Army assignment was Field Artillery Requirements Branch Chief for the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) within the US Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, VA.

Brad currently serves as President of the Virginia Colonial Chapter, Association of the United States Army.

Brad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point and is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College. 

Cole Herndon is a Partner at Fortress Forge LLC, an AI-enhanced business development consulting firm. Fortress Forge empowers defense innovators to conquer complex markets with precision and foresight.  By coupling proprietary AI-driven analytics and strategic intelligence with deep industry experience and relationships, the firm infuses science into the art of business development - accelerating contract wins and forging unbreakable partnerships. 

Cole is an AI technologist advancing defense innovation through in-depth research, analytics, and decision-ready tools, using object-oriented design and clean, modular code. He is adept at rapid prototyping and iterative development, known for analytical problem solving, and focused on the future of interactive technology and spatial computing.

Prior to joining Fortress Forge, Cole was a Virtual Reality Designer/Unity Developer at Polycount.io/M2 Studio. He was instrumental in developing interactive extended reality (XR) experiences that blended gameplay-style mechanics with sophisticated spatial design. He leveraged C# and Unity to build robust, user-focused systems and user interface (UI), with a focus on optimizing projects for performance on next-generation XR hardware. 

Earlier in his career, Cole was a Virtual Reality Developer at Shenandoah University Center for Immersive Learning (SCiL) Lab. In this role he established and managed a motion capture recording studio, processing and polishing captured human movement data within Unity, to increase realism in virtual reality (VR) character animations.

Cole holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Virtual Reality Design from Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA and an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Science from Thomas Nelson Community College in Williamsburg, VA.