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. Air Force and U.S. Army in the next few weeks are expected to announce an agreement to collaborate on the Predator and Warrior unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs. The Army's Warrior Extended Range/Multipurpose (ER/MP) UAV is built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which also produces the Air Force's Predator A and B UAVs. Pentagon acquisition chief Kenneth Krieg has sent a memo to the Air Force and Army secretaries requesting that the services look at integrating the programs at the acquisition level.
The launch of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's TacSat-2 satellite from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., was scrubbed Dec. 11 due to a possible problem with the software that points the spacecraft's solar arrays. Mission controllers opted to postpone the morning liftoff when Air Force engineers running simulations determined that the software might not point the arrays directly at the sun when the spacecraft arrives in orbit, which could leave it with insufficient power, according to NASA spokesman Keith Koehler.
The Falcon Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) program is preparing to enter its next phase early next year, after contractors AirLaunch LLC and SpaceX clear a few more hurdles. Steven Walker, Falcon program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), estimates the effort will move into Phase 2C around February 2007. The length of the phase will depend on whether the program decides to take the technology as far as an actual orbital flight-test. "That's a decision that hasn't been made yet," Walker told The DAILY.
