L3Harris Technologies on Aug. 17, 2026 named Sam Mehta its new President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, while Christopher Kubasik stepped down as Chairman and CEO and as a board member, effective immediately. Lewis Hay III was named Independent Chairman of the Board in the same move.
The change puts Mehta in charge of a company he has known since 2023, when he joined after more than 25 years of strategic and operational leadership across aerospace and defense. He had most recently been responsible for the company’s biggest businesses, and the board is now handing him the top job at a moment when those units matter most to the company’s finances.
Those segments, Space & Mission Systems and Communications & Spectrum Dominance, make up more than 80% of L3Harris’ total revenue. That is why the leadership shuffle lands with more force than a routine title change: the executive who was overseeing the core of the business is now the chief executive, and the company is putting the same leadership bench around him with Lauren Barnes moving to President of Space & Mission Systems and Christopher Aebli taking over Communications & Spectrum Dominance.
Hay said Mehta’s readiness reflected the board’s succession planning and its effort to develop internal talent, while also noting that Kubasik had overseen significant transformation and built a strong team. He said the board and Kubasik agreed that carrying out the succession plan on that day was the right step. What the company did not say was why the handoff had to happen immediately rather than at a later date, leaving the central question around Kubasik’s exit unanswered.
L3Harris also used the announcement to keep investors focused on execution. It reaffirmed its 2026 guidance for consolidated revenue, organic growth, segment operating margin, GAAP earnings per share and free cash flow, and it said it remains committed to the previously announced $3 billion capital buildout aimed at increasing solid rocket motor production and strengthening its supply chain. Mehta said the company’s portfolio is built for the future of warfare and that it is positioned to keep pushing its growth strategy as The Trusted Disruptor. For now, the clearest message is that L3Harris has changed leaders without changing course.
