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 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle program has achieved cost savings of $82 million since December 2002 through the application of lean manufacturing principles, according to industry officials. The actual savings are higher, prime contractor Northrop Grumman says, because they include costs that were avoided altogether. These achievements have been overshadowed by overall cost growth on the program created by technical and programmatic issues as Northrop Grumman gears up to produce the upgraded RQ-4B Global Hawk for the Air Force.
The U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems program is moving into a phase of more specific platform-level reviews and prototype manufacturing as it gears up for its overall preliminary design review in June 2006, according to program officials. Following a System of Systems Functional Review in August, the program now is moving more into the building, testing and integration of prototypes for the 18 interconnected ground and air platforms that comprise the core of FCS.
Lockheed Martin has pulled out of its partnership with MD Helicopters to offer the MD Explorer for the U.S. Army's Light Utility Helicopter program, the companies revealed Oct. 6. MD Helicopters now is going it alone in its bid for LUH and will be ready to deliver its proposal on time Oct. 12, according to company spokesman Ken Jensen. The decision to dissolve the partnership was "mutual," he told The DAILY.
