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.
An $8 million cut in the HyFly hypersonic missile demonstrator program mandated by Congress last fall has caused the test flight schedule to slip several months and to lose one of its originally planned 11 flights. Congress cut HyFly's $27 million request for fiscal year 2003 by $8 million, over DOD's protests that such a cut would delay the program's flight tests, which had been scheduled for FY '04, to FY '06 (DAILY, Oct. 17, 2002).
In mid-April, the Global Positioning System (GPS) program office will provide Peter Teets, the Air Force undersecretary for space, a package of options for accelerating the GPS III program, according to GPS Program Manager Col. Wesley Ballenger. To help fund other priorities, the Air Force decided earlier this year to delay the award of the GPS III prime contract and cut off all funding in FY '04, in anticipation of quickly ramping up the program later for a scheduled 2012 first launch.
The services and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) must deliver a plan for the proposed joint Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) program office to the Office of the Secretary of Defense by mid-April that would establish the office by the end of the year.
