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.
Rep. Todd Akin is in negotiations with NASA about keeping the X-43 hypersonics team intact, according to a spokesman for the Missouri Republican. The team, which includes Boeing Phantom Works of St. Louis, set airbreathing speed records with their two successful scramjet demonstrations in 2004. Akin, a member of the House Science Committee, met with NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Lisa Porter late last month to discuss the group's future.
After demonstrating level-4 control of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its weapons from the cockpit of an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter earlier this year, Boeing hopes to conduct cooperative flights with the Longbow and multiple UAVs this summer at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. Boeing hopes to use its Unmanned Little Bird and ScanEagle UAVs in the demonstration, which would be sponsored by the U.S. Army's Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD).
NASA on April 11 issued a request for information (RFI) asking for ideas on lunar activities that could fit into the agency's plans for revisiting the moon and using it as a springboard for the human exploration of Mars.
