Capt. Sarah Abbott is the program manager for the Precision Strike Weapons program office (PMA-201) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

Abbott is a 2003 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a bachelor's in aerospace engineering (astronautics).  Following commissioning, she attended Stanford University where she worked as a research assistant in the GPS Laboratory and earned a master's in aeronautics and astronautics in 2005.  She was designated a naval aviator in August 2007 and received orders to the “Flying Eagles” of VFA-122 at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California for F/A-18E/F Super Hornet training.   

Abbott’s first operational fleet tour was from 2008-2011 with the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2 “Bounty Hunters” based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.  She deployed to the Western Pacific with Carrier Air Wing 2 aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in support of combat Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. 

In 2011, Abbott was selected to attend U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School as a Navy exchange student.  Upon completion of the experimental test pilot syllabus, she reported to the Air Test and Evaluation (VX) 31 “Dust Devils” in China Lake, California. There she served as the Joint Mission Planning System and Communications, Navigation, and IFF Project Officer, most notably bringing the area navigation and mode 5 combined interrogator-transponder capabilities to the fleet. 

In 2015, she checked in as a department head with the VFA-147 “Argonauts” where she served as safety officer, assistant operations and maintenance officers.  She deployed with the Carrier Air Wing 17 in 2017 aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in support of combat Operation Inherent Resolve.

Later that year, Abbott joined the NAVAIR team as an aviation engineering duty officer and served as the Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Weapons (PMA-242) military class desk, providing technical guidance and tactical insight to eight diverse product teams in the program portfolio where she made significant contributions to the development of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range (AARGM-ER) development program.

In 2020, Abbott reported to the Air-to-Air Missiles program office (PMA-259) as the AIM-9X deputy program manager, where she managed cost, schedule, and performance for the production, development and sustainment of the ACAT IC AIM-9X Sidewinder family of air-to-air missiles, a joint, Navy-led program. 

In 2022, Abbott took over as the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet principle assistant program manager at PMA-265, where she has participated in significant development, production, and sustainment activities for the platform, most notably the final production contract for the Super Hornet, the service life modification program to extend platform hours, and the agile transformation of mission systems software delivery.

Abbott has accumulated more than 1900 hours in 31 different aircraft and over 300 arrested landings.  Her awards include three Meritorious Service Medals, two Strike/Flight Air Medals, two Navy Commendation Medals, and various campaign and unit awards.