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 U.S. Coast Guard is considering launching unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from parasails as one of several ideas for deploying UAVs from Coast Guard ships and integrating them into day-to-day operations. "We've got a lot of surveillance/identification missions, search and rescue, law enforcement, where UAVs make sense," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Michael Walz, speaking at an unmanned vehicle conference here Aug. 1. "The problem is space," he said.
During a July 31 confirmation hearing, the Bush Administration's nominee for assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications, and intelligence (C3I) stopped short of advocating putting offensive weapons in space, although he didn't rule out the possibility of putting defensive systems on some satellites. If confirmed, John P. Stenbit will assume what has traditionally been the lead role in the Department of Defense for military space.
Following its successful deployment to Australia earlier this year, the Air Force is ramping up production of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) while developing plans to beef up its sensors and bring it closer to "parity" with manned platforms such as the U-2 spy plane. At a UAV demonstration July 30 (DAILY, July 31), Brig. Gen. Henry Obering said the Air Force plans to increase the production rate from the current two aircraft per year to six per year by 2004.
