Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the industry team behind the Airborne Laser (ABL) program are mobilizing to try to persuade Capitol Hill to reverse the $400 million cut to ABL's $549 million fiscal 2008 budget levied by House defense authorizers. "We're working with the Hill to mitigate their concerns," MDA spokesman Chris Taylor told The DAILY.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) dual-spacecraft Orbital Express mission had its first free-flying undocking and re-docking demonstration May 5. The two satellites - Boeing's Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (ASTRO) servicing spacecraft and Ball Aerospace's NextSat - undocked, separated to a distance of roughly 10 meters and flew separately for a full orbit around the Earth before re-docking, according to Robert Villanueva, spokesman for mission prime Boeing.
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee is seeking research proposals that will allow improved test and evaluation of hypersonics over the next ten to 15 years. "The goal is not to develop hypersonic flight systems or subsystems in this solicitation, but to investigate improved ground and flight test facilities, techniques and test methodologies that are needed to support hypersonic system/subsystem development," DOD said in an announcement. Proposals are due June 8.
