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 Marine Corps wrapped up its "Agile Lion" demonstration at Yuma, Ariz., on Dec. 15, in which dismounted troops were able to send and receive data to airborne targeting pods via Northrop Grumman's Advanced Information Architecture (AIA) system.
Defense Department leaders met in the Pentagon Dec. 16 to discuss DOD's stance on Lockheed Martin and Boeing's proposed United Launch Alliance merger. Once a decision is reached, DOD will report its position to the Federal Trade Commission, which has spent months studying the ULA deal in anticipation of making an antitrust ruling. ULA would merge production of Boeing's Delta and Lockheed Martin's Atlas rocket families, yielding a projected savings to the Air Force of $100 million to $150 million annually, according to the companies.
NASA has decided to remove the Protuberance Air Load ramp from the space shuttle's external tank before its next flight, according to Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier. The PAL ramp is a large area of foam designed to deflect winds away from a cable tray that runs along the external tank. A large piece of foam debris broke loose from the PAL ramp during Discovery's launch in July, shocking NASA engineers who thought they had eliminated sources of dangerous foam debris in the wake of the Columbia disaster.
