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 American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is calling on Congress to increase the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) budget for unmanned aircraft and use Alaska as a test bed for experimentation to help with their integration into the national airspace. In a white paper provided to Congress for a scheduled July hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, AIAA urges Congress to appropriate $90 million per year for NOAA to buy unmanned aerial system (UAS) services starting in fiscal 2007.
The U.S. Army has begun training a group of senior leaders in lean/six sigma business practices and plans to begin applying these principles across its various processes to improve efficiency, according to Army Secretary Francis Harvey. The Army's business transformation is just as important as its force transformation efforts, Harvey said during a July 13 breakfast in Arlington, Va., sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) Institute for Land Warfare.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $16.757 billion fiscal 2007 spending bill for NASA July 13 that included an amendment to add another $1 billion in extra funding to help cover the agency's costs in recovering from the 2003 Columbia accident. The amendment, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), is classified as an emergency appropriation that doesn't have to be offset within the larger $51 billion commerce/justice/science spending bill that NASA is part of.
