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.
NASA completed a second series of test flights on April 4 to evaluate detect, see, and avoid (DSA) systems designed to allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly safely with other air traffic. A previous series of test flights conducted at Las Cruces, N.M., last March evaluated a DSA system that de-conflicted flight paths with the help of transponders on the other aircraft (DAILY, March 18, 2002). The latest series of flights featured a "non-cooperative" DSA system, which didn't require such transponders.
Although the Department of Defense's (DOD) fiscal year 2004 funding request for nanotechnology is $21 million less than its FY '03 request, DOD's final FY '04 investment could end up roughly equal to the previous year's spending, according to a DOD research official.
An MIT-based institute is developing technologies that could one day enable a multifunctional "dynamic battle suit" that would use nanotechnology to protect soldiers, keep them healthy, and possibly even increase their strength. Speaking at the National Nanotechnology Initiative's (NNI) annual conference in Washington April 3, Edwin Thomas, director of The Institute of Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT, said the prime consideration in developing nanosystems for soldiers is keeping them lightweight.
