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.
If upcoming U.S. Air Force experiments are successful, free-floating "near space" surveillance balloons could be deployed to the field by late next year, according to Maj. Robert Blackington of the Air Force Space Battlelab. Blackington is the program manager for the Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV), a high-altitude airship that is one of several technologies being developed by the battlelab to exploit near-space altitudes (DAILY, Nov. 5). Near space is roughly defined as 66,000-300,000 feet.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began its border patrol flights using Northrop Grumman's Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) this week, according to an industry source. "They're using two RQ-5 Hunters, and they're just going to be using EO/IR [electro-optical/infrared] sensors, and they're going to make flights up and down the Arizona border near the area of Fort Huachuca," the source told The DAILY (DAILY, Nov. 4). Awaiting approval
The U.S. Air Force Space Battlelab's Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (NSMV) program plans to test fly a revised propeller design at 100,000 feet altitude later this month, according to NSMV Program Manager Maj. Robert Blackington. Part of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), the Air Force Space Battlelab is exploring various technologies for exploiting "near space" altitudes, which are roughly defined as 65,000-300,000 feet. The first applications for this regime are likely to be surveillance and communications relay (DAILY, Sept. 15).
