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.
NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson believes the U.S. military must put greater emphasis on developing interoperable systems if it expects to successfully fight as part of future military coalitions. "I hope the guys spending at the Pentagon will have a big poster on the wall that says, 'Interoperability,'" Robertson said at a press briefing for defense writers in Washington April 10. Without interoperable systems, "you could have coalitions of the willing, but the incapable," he said.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) is facing "huge" challenges as it transforms itself to respond to homeland defense needs, according to the agency's director. Speaking at a symposium in Falls Church, Va. April 9, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jim Clapper (retired) said many of these challenges revolve around reorienting NIMA to a domestic focus.
Raytheon hopes its Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which will be formally turned over to the FAA next year, eventually could become a one-stop global satellite navigation system for users around the world. WAAS corrects and enhances Global Positioning System (GPS) signals by comparing them with position information from ground stations and two satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
