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.
IED ASSESSMENTS: The U.S. Air Force is awarding a $58.5 million cost plus fixed fee contract to Wyle Laboratories, Inc,. of Huntsville, Ala., for data collection, interoperability assessments, research, analysis, and reliability test and engineering for the Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Interoperability Project.
The U.S. Army’s military deputy for budget says that despite economic pressures related to the global recession and the Obama administration’s shifting of spending priorities, he’s confident that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will restore modernization funding starting next year.
NEW YORK — Defunct microsatellites pose a growing space debris risk and must be better tracked in orbit, according to Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for space. “Some people call these microsats,” Payton said during the Space Foundation’s Space Business Forum here June 4. “Ten years after their launch, they become space debris. They become potential ASATs. We need to keep track of these smaller and smaller spacecraft.”