Okay, got it - the Jump Point Distance tech mentioned is actually the Jump Point Radius tech. Pretty confusing though.
EDIT - so what purpose does jump radius actually serve?
When you perform a squadron jump, your "squadron" will appear within the jump point radius around the jumppoint. Larger jump point radius might come in handy, when you want to avoid a hostile jumppoint picket, i.e. you appear out of range of the enemies beam weapons, but they are inside your missile envelope or you want to move a scout through without it being blown to bits.