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.
BALTIMORE, Md. - The Lockheed Martin-Bell Helicopter Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) team analyzed 11 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts before settling on a compound helicopter configuration, according to Walter Sonneborn of Bell Helicopter.
The Navy's RQ-8A Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) is designed to provide autonomous real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to tactical users in maritime and littoral areas. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman produced and integrated the first Fire Scout UAVs at company facilities in San Diego. The company plans to begin producing the next-generation RQ-8B model at a new dedicated facility in Mississippi starting next year (DAILY, April 15).
BALTIMORE, Md. - To fit seamlessly into the U.S. Army's future command and control architecture, the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) will accept verbal commands from operators and report back to them verbally as well, according to Program Manager Don Woodbury of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "All the interaction is verbal," Woodbury said during a presentation at the American Helicopter Society's (AHS) Vertical Flight Transformation Forum here June 10. "We talk to it, it talks to us."
