The U-2 Spy Plane Is Too Valuable To Replace

(Image credit: Lockheed Martin) 

BBC: The veteran spyplane too valuable to replace 

Satellites – and drones – were intended to replace it. But the 65-year-old Lockheed U-2 is still at the top of its game, flying missions in an environment no other aircraft can operate in. 

Nearly twice as wide as it is long, the Lockheed U-2 spy plane is one of the most distinctive aircraft in the United States Air Force – and the hardest aircraft to fly, earning itself the nickname “The Dragon Lady”. 

The U-2’s 63ft-long (19m) thin fuselage, two high-aspect, un-swept glider-like wings, and powerful engine are designed to rocket the plane higher than 70,000ft (21km) – and, crucially, keep it there. 

The U-2 operates at such height and at such a wafer-thin margin between its maximum speed and its stall speed that pilots call its cruising altitude “coffin corner”. The missions there last hours at a time.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese have made their unhappiness known with recent U-2 flights in the South China Sea .... South China Sea tensions EXPLODE as Beijing spots US spy plane in disputed territory (Express).