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. Air Force provided details this week on the quarter-scale Hybrid Launch Vehicle (HLV) demonstrator that the service hopes to develop as a follow-on to ongoing HLV trade studies. The suborbital demonstrator, tentatively scheduled to fly in fiscal 2012, will allow the service to "learn a lot about how to integrate the constituent technologies and a lot about the potential cost of a real system," according to Col. James Painter, director of strategic and developmental planning at the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center.
CALIFORNIA, Md. - When it gets under way next year, the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) program must meet its cost and schedule requirements or risk cancellation as the U.S. Navy struggles to recapitalize its existing aircraft fleet, service officials told industry hopefuls during a BAMS industry day here May 17.
President Bush's May 15 speech calling for 6,000 National Guard troops to be sent to the southern border of the U.S. to back up the Border Patrol is likely to help speed the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace, according to a Pentagon UAV official. Most likely to benefit from the announcement are small UAVs such as AeroVironment's Raven, which has been used extensively by Guard troops deployed to Iraq, according to Dyke Weatherington, head of the Pentagon's Unmanned Aircraft System Task Force.
