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.
House Armed Services Committee Vice Chairman Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) questioned subcommittee hearing witnesses Sept. 21 about the decision to delay deployment of an Israeli active protection system (APS) for countering mortars and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). In April 2005, U.S. Central Command approved a Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement request from troops in Iraq that included a requirement for a vehicle dubbed the Full Spectrum Effects Platform (FSEP), which would include a fully automated APS system.
NASA has cleared the space shuttle for a Sept. 21 landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after Atlantis' crew conducted a final survey of the thermal protection system (TPS) to ensure that several pieces of floating debris spotted near the orbiter were not the result of heat shield damage.
The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High program has made "tremendous progress" since last year, when the troubled effort's third Nunn-McCurdy violation led the Pentagon to truncate Lockheed Martin's contract for satellite production, says Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
