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.
NASA’s award of a contract worth as much as $1.125 billion to Boeing for production of the Ares I upper stage will bring some new managers to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The foam-covered 84-ft. aluminum-lithium stages will be built on the same government-owned factory floor where Lockheed Martin now builds the big foam-covered aluminum-lithium external tanks for the space shuttle fleet. Boeing managers will begin moving into the mammoth facility in advance of the shuttle fleet retirement in 2010 to prepare for the follow-on Ares I work.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has sustained the second round of protests against Boeing's win of the U.S. Air Force's Combat, Search and Rescue replacement (CSAR-X) helicopter program. Losing bidders Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky have twice protested the choice of Boeing's HH-47 Chinook variant in a program to build more than 140 helicopters for an estimated price of $10 billion to $15 billion (DAILY, Aug. 20).
Boeing has won the $514.7 million production contract for the upper stage of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle, beating a team led by ATK that also included Orion crew exploration vehicle prime Lockheed Martin. Boeing's team includes Hamilton Sundstrand, Moog Inc., Northrop Grumman, Orion Propulsion Inc. and SUMMA Technology Inc.
