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 "dream" of developing a hypersonic vehicle that can take off from a runway and fly into space is still alive at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to Director Tony Tether. This vision was embodied in the joint DARPA/NASA/Air Force effort known as the National Aerospace Plane (NASP). The X-30 NASP program was aimed at demonstrating a single-stage-to-orbit space vehicle that would take off from a runway.
Within the next few months, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to send to Iraq a number of new technologies to counter terrorist activity, including electronics detection systems and a laser microphone that could be used to pinpoint snipers. An electronics detection system could be effective in warning troops of possible booby traps or other improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that rely on electronics to be set off, according to DARPA Director Tony Tether.
Because of a congressional budget cut, the U.S. Air Force has told contractors not to perform any work on the Advanced Polar System (APS) satellites in the next phase of the Transformational Communications MILSATCOM (TCM) space segment program, according to Lockheed Martin.
