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 Defense Department's future TacSat small satellites still are awaiting a decision from the Air Force about how they will be launched, although an answer is expected shortly, according to Lloyd Feldman, assistant director of the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation.
The Air Force has not delayed the latest round of launch awards in its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle in response to ongoing antitrust deliberations on the United Launch Alliance venture or a pending lawsuit seeking to stop the merger, according to the Space and Missile Systems Center. The so-called "Buy 3" EELV awards are expected to divide 23 launches through the end of the decade evenly between Boeing's Delta IV and Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rockets.
NASA's aeronautics program is being refocused on "core competencies" as the agency crafts a new strategic vision for aeronautics in partnership with FAA and the Defense Department, according to Administrator Michael Griffin. "We, NASA, do not see ourselves being the only stakeholders in aeronautics in this country and seek very definitely to find a partnership of people who can help us say what is it that needs to be done and what is no longer required," Griffin told lawmakers during a hearing in Washington Nov. 3.
