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. Army has extended the stop-work order issued to Lockheed Martin's Aerial Common Sensor program by an additional 30 days while it ponders the way forward for the troubled program. The Army issued the original 90-day order in September after learning that Lockheed Martin's chosen platform for ACS, the Embraer ERJ-145 business jet, was too small to carry the multiple intelligence-gathering payloads intended for it.
A decision on how to move forward with the troubled National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System will be delayed as the program scrambles to survive in light of a breach of the Nunn-McCurdy 25 percent cost growth cap, according to a source close to the negotiations. At a November hearing on Capitol Hill, program representatives told lawmakers they hoped to be able to make a decision on NPOESS' future this month, but the legally required response to the Nunn-McCurdy breach will push the decision into next year, the source said.
NEW YORK - Alliant Techsystems plans to enlarge its footprint in space systems in the coming years as it introduces its own low-cost launch vehicle, according to Chairman and CEO Dan Murphy. "ATK is entering the fray as a prime contractor, as a developer of a lower-cost solution for space launch," Murphy said during Aviation Week's Aerospace & Defense Finance conference here Dec. 7. Currently, three quarters of ATK's annual sales are in solid rocket motors and conventional munitions, with the rest in advanced weapons and space systems.
