Based in Washington, Jen manages Aviation Week’s worldwide defense, space and security coverage.
Prior to taking on her current role, Jen was Aviation Week's Congressional Editor. Jen came to Aviation Week in March 2011 from Politico, where she covered the intersection of defense and politics. She also worked as a reporter and editor for Defense Daily, Inside the Army, The Other Paper and The Columbus Dispatch.
Jen received a Master’s degree in journalism as a Kiplinger Fellow at the Ohio State University. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in history and journalism from the University of Michigan.
Congress seems noticeably quiet on the Joint Strike Fighter, considering the program's tenuous future and the huge challenges still in front of the F-35. Contractor Lockheed Martin is in the midst of difficult negotiations with the Pentagon on the next set of aircraft. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently put JSF on the target list in anticipation of the steepest budget cuts in more than a decade. Then there are the aircraft's long-term support costs, which were projected to reach $1 trillion.
While the nation’s top uniformed officer says the U.S. military is committed to developing a fifth-generation fighter jet, he indicates that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be on a path to a slowdown. “There are some fact-of-life changes that we’ll probably have to make based on the ability to procure on the time lines that we’d like to have,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Dec. 9 event sponsored by the Atlantic Council.
Even if the Pentagon is staring nearly $1 trillion in budget cuts in the face, the defense secretary should continue to accelerate production of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an Oklahoma senator argues.
