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.
General Atomics' Altair has become the first unmanned aerial vehicle to receive an experimental airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Nick Sabatini. Awarded Aug. 25, the certificate "defines the airspace they can operate in and the specific limitations within which they must stay," Sabatini told The DAILY. "So it bounds that operation." Altair's operational area is in the deserts of the southwest.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will not play an active role in the revamped Joint Unmanned Combat Air System program after it transitions to Air Force ownership in the next few months, according to outgoing DARPA Program Manager Mike Francis. Francis estimates the move to the Air Force will be complete by early November. The Air Force and the Navy still are working out the details of the new J-UCAS office, which is expected to be stood up at Dayton Air Force Base in Ohio and initially be led by a Navy program manager (DAILY, Sept. 14).
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics, said he fears that China may beat U.S. astronauts back to the moon if NASA's current schedule target of 2018 isn't accelerated. "I've been talking to a number of people that are much more knowledgeable about that than I am, [about] some things that maybe are still classified, but they believe that the Chinese are probably on the mark to get there sooner," Calvert told The DAILY.
