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.
Space-based assets will eventually provide integral, near real-time information to the individual soldier, according to Col. Glen Collins, director of the Force Development and Integration Center at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Speaking at a media briefing here July 17, Collins said that with the help of future space-based systems - such as Space-based Radar and the Space-based Infrared System (SBIRS) - experiences such as those narrated in the book "Black Hawk Down" could become a thing of the past.
A rapidly deployed missile defense system could use ground-based interceptors in Ft. Greely, Alaska, along with other developing systems, to provide multi-layered missile defense by 2004-05, according to Rob Snyder, executive director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). "It's possible that there would be five interceptors in silos at Greely, with all of the operational communications in place," said Snyder at a missile defense conference here July 17.
Despite its history of technical problems, Lt. Gen. Joseph M. Cosumano Jr., commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), would like to see the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system ramped up. "We're always interested in moving forward with the THAAD program," said Cosumano at a media briefing here July 16. "If there were opportunities to move forward with THAAD ... an acceleration, we'd like to do that." Starting in August 1999, THAAD failed six straight intercept tests.
