Steve covers military aviation, missiles and space for the Aviation Week Network, based in Washington.
Born in a U.S. Air Force family, he grew up on military bases around the world and came to Washington in 1997 to work for Army Times Publishing Co. as a journalist. Steve helped launch the Military.com portal in 2000, then joined the editorial team for Aviation Week’s web site in 2001. He reported on the Pentagon for Aerospace Daily in 2002 and 2003.
From September 2003 to September 2018, Steve covered defense and aviation issues and managed staff as the U.S. bureau chief for Jane’s Defence Weekly and later FlightGlobal. He has covered aviation stories on six continents and won multiple awards, including the 2017 Aerospace Media Awards honor for Best In-Depth Feature on the effort to revive Russia’s commercial aviation industry.
A proposal by Senate Republicans seeks to add billions for defense spending to the COVID-19 relief package, including new money for F-35, P-8 and C-130J procurement.
The State Department’s unilateral reclassification of formerly Missile Technology Control Regime Category 1 aircraft has no impact on sales of large unmanned aircraft systems in the near-term. The move could even create new uncertainty in the long-term about the status of an emerging class of autonomous “Loyal Wingman” UAS.
The policy changes means the U.S. government unilaterally reclassifies any unmanned aircraft system that flies slower than 800 km./hr. (497 mph)—including the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. MQ-9 and Avenger, and the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C—as a Category 2 aircraft under the Missile Technology Control Regime.
