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.
NASA's operating plan for fiscal 2007, still evolving as the agency struggles to accommodate a $528.1 million cut to its requested amount, kills a proposed robotic lunar lander as expected, and slips the initial operational capability of its planned Orion/Ares I follow-on to the space shuttle. But it adds funds to two high-profile (and high-cost) space science programs - the Mars Science Laboratory and the James Webb Space Telescope - to keep them on schedule for their planned launch dates in 2009 and 2013, respectively.
Exostar's Export Control Working Group is attempting to infuse greater automation into its customers' collaborative business tools to help them avoid export control violations. Exostar hosts a number of secure collaborative computer applications through which its 34,000 aerospace and defense clients do business and share information, much of which is subject to U.S. State Department restrictions.
Delays with the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program are not expected to slow the introduction of the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to manufacturer Northrop Grumman. Cost growth recently spurred the Navy to issue a stop-work order to Lockheed Martin for its LCS prototype. General Dynamics also is working on a version of LCS.
