Thomas P. Christie

Thomas Philip Christie (born May 28, 1934 in Pensacola, Florida)[1] is an American defense analyst who worked for the U.S. government.

[1][2] Christie served for nine years as director of the operational evaluation division (OED) at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally funded research and development center.

While working with Boyd at Eglin AFB, Christie was deeply involved with the development of the Energy-Maneuverability theory of aerial combat.

[3] The work on this theory was not officially sanctioned and Christie and Boyd resorted to "stealing" computer time to compare the performance of U.S. and Soviet military aircraft which resulted in the publication of a two volume report in 1964.

Despite the manner in which the Energy-Maneuverability theory was developed, it was accepted by the U.S. military and influenced the design of the successful F-15, F-16 and F-18 fighters.