The Retirement Of The U-2 Moves Forward

U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Eric Harris  

FOX News: This high-flying aircraft discovered China’s spy balloon. Now Biden’s Pentagon wants to kill it  

Each day, combat commanders around the world demand more and more U-2 missions The last time most, albeit older, Americans heard of the Lockheed U-2, Dragon Lady, was on May 1, 1960, when a USSR surface-to-air missile downed one piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union. 

The U-2 was the 1954 brainchild of President Eisenhower, who sought eyes in the sky to learn whether America’s WWII ally turned Cold War adversary – which had, in 1953, detonated a hydrogen bomb – possessed the technology to produce high-end bombers and long-range missiles. 

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Update #1: U-2 Retirement Moves Forward With Defense Secretary Decision (Warzone)  

Update #2: Biden admin gives China an edge? Pentagon retires spy plane that detected balloon (Light Waves Report)  

WNU Editor: Is this the replacement? .... Secret Skunk Works Spy Drone Delivered To Air Force: Report (Warzone).

China Shot Down Five U-2 Spy Planes At The Height Of The Cold War

A mobile chase car pursues a U-2 Dragon Lady as it prepares to land at Beale Air Force Base in California in June 2015. US Air Force  

CNN: When China shot down five U-2 spy planes at the height of the Cold War  

Seoul, South Korea CNN — When a Chinese high-altitude balloon suspected of spying was spotted over the United States recently, the US Air Force responded by sending up a high-flying espionage asset of its own: the U-2 reconnaissance jet.

It was the Cold-War era spy plane that took the high-resolution photographs – not to mention its pilot’s selfie – that reportedly convinced Washington the Chinese balloon was gathering intelligence and not, as Beijing continues to insist, studying the weather. 

In doing so, the plane played a key role in an event that sent tensions between the world’s two largest economies soaring, and shone an international spotlight on the methods the two governments use to keep tabs on each other.  

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Update: China ‘Shot Down’ 5 US Recon Aircraft! How Beijing Outsmarted USAF & Wreaked Havoc On The ‘Dragon Lady’ (EurAsian Times)  

WNU Editor: Wow!!!! I never knew about this. You learn something new everyday.

Images Show U-2 Equipped With A Panoramic Camera

MATT HARTMAN 

Warzone/The Drive: Images Show U-2 That Flew Intriguing Flight Over California Was Equipped With A Panoramic Camera 

The U-2 Dragon Lady is one ultra-adaptable info collecting beast and in this case, it was equipped with a sensor that was still spinning as it landed. 

U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane activity is not all that rare over California, but one test flight that emanated from the Air Force's sprawling Plant 42 installation in Palmdale, California on February 4 certainly drew some attention. Airplane trackers kept tabs on the flight via online aircraft tracking software, while others spotted the U-2 up above 60,000-feet from terra-firma below. The test mission flew all over the state, before returning to base at Plant 42, where our contributor Matt Hartman just happened to be spotting. The result was some awesome detailed images of the U-2 that flew the sortie, which included a rare look at the Dragon Lady equipped with a modern panoramic imaging sensor installed in its glazed under-fuselage 'Q bay,' which seemed to still be actively scanning the ground below as the high-flying jet came into land. 

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WNU Editor: That must be one impressive camera.

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).

China Claims U.S. Spy Plane Entered A No-Fly Zone During Live-Fire Naval Exercises

U-2S reconnaissance plane

Washington Times: 'Provocative act': China claims U.S. spy plane entered no-fly zone

A U.S. spy plane crossed into a no-fly zone in the Pacific on Tuesday and disrupted People’s Liberation Army drills, Chinese officials said in sharp accusations that mark yet another escalation of tensions between the two global powers.

China’s Defense Ministry said that an American U-2 aircraft engaged in a “purely provocative act” by entering a no-fly zone “enforced by the Northern Theater of the People’s Liberation Army.” Beijing cast the incident as dangerous and potentially deadly, and strongly suggested that the U.S. was attempting to surveil Chinese military activities.

“The move severely encroached on China’s sovereignty, heavily interrupted China’s ordinary military operations and could easily cause misjudgment and even result in accidents,” the Chinese Defense Ministry said on its website.

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WNU Editor: The Chinese are making public their anger that the US spied on their operations. This is new. They usually say nothing.

More News On Chinese Claims That A U.S. Spy Plane Entered A No-Fly Zone During Live-Fire Naval Exercises

China Freaks Out Over Supposed U-2 Spy Plane Flight Over Its Naval Exercise -- Warzone/The Drive
China protests U.S. spy plane watching drills -- Reuters
China protests US spy plane for breaching PLA no-fly zone -- Global Times
China opposes US military aircraft trespass in no-fly zone -- China.org.cn/Xinhua

This Airline Pilot Is The First Air Force Reservist To Qualify To Fly U-2 Spy Plane

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Colville McFee

Military.com/Stars and Stripes: Airline Pilot Is the First Air Force Reservist to Qualify to Fly U-2 Spy Plane

An Air Force reservist has qualified for the first time to fly the U-2 Dragon Lady, becoming one of fewer than 1,500 people to pilot the iconic spy plane.

Maj. Jeffrey Anderson, a former active duty U-2 pilot who switched to the reserves more than two years ago, took a break from flying for Delta Air Lines to requalify on the aircraft, considered among the hardest in the world to fly.

"This is truly amazing," Anderson said in an Air Force statement this week.

Officials at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing out of Beale Air Force Base, Calif., where the aircraft are based, hope to qualify more reservists in the coming years to help address pilot shortages in the service.

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Update #1: After 65 Years, the U-2 Spy Plane Gets Its First Reservist Pilot (Popular Mechanics)
Update #2: U-2 Fleet Welcomes First Reservist Pilot (Air Force Magazine)

WNU Editor: Quite an accomplishment for Maj. Jeffrey Anderson. As for the U-2 program, it looks like the US Air Force wants it to fly for decades .... The US Air Force is spending $50 million to keep the U-2 spy plane high above the battlefield for decades to come (Business Insider).

How Russian And Chinese Satellites Are Helping American U-2 Pilots Spy On Russia And China

A U-2 Dragon Lady flies above the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, California, Mar. 23, 2016. U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Robert M. Trujillo

Defense One: Russian and Chinese Satellites Are Helping US Pilots Spy on Russia and China

U-2 pilots are wearing watches that connect to foreign satellites, giving them backup navigation when GPS is jammed.

American U-2 spy plane pilots, who have long flown bleeding-edge technology to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, have a new high-tech gadget: a watch that receives satellite navigation coordinates from Russian, Chinese, and European satellites.

It serves as a backup to U.S. Global Positioning System satellites, in case their signal becomes unavailable.

“My U-2 guys fly with a watch now that ties into GPS, but also BeiDou and the Russian [GLONASS] system and the European [Galileo] system so that if somebody jams GPS, they still get the others,” Gen. James “Mike” Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, said Wednesday at a McAleese and Associates conference in Washington.

The general mentioned the watch as an example of building redundancies into military equipment.

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WNU Editor: I would love to have one of those "watches" when I go sailing.

Is The U.S. Air Force About To Retire The U-2?

U-2S reconnaissance plane

Task & Purpose: The Air Force plans on retiring the vaunted U-2 spy plane starting in 2025

After nearly 70 years of service, the U.S. Air Force plans to begin divesting its fleet of U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes starting in fiscal year 2025, budget documents show.

According to the service's fiscal year 2021 budget request of $120.2 million for U-2 procurement, the service "will maintain operational capability up to and through FY25" for the high-altitude plane before divesting in the aircraft beginning that year.

"These investments will address reliability, maintainability, supportability, diminishing manufacturing sources/material shortages (DMS/MS), flight test, safety issues, and integration of capability development activities in support of the broader [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] portfolio," the budget request says. "This continued investment in the platform ends in FY25, where the U-2 will be divested."

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WNU Editor: Confusion reigns. The Air Force is now saying that the U-2 will not be retired .... Budget Elicits Confusion Over Fate of U-2 (Air Force Magazine).

A Closer Look At The U-2's 'Moon Suit'

Popular Mechanics: The U-2's 'Moon Suit' Is Almost as Impressive as the Plane Itself

Pilots have worn the astronaut-like pressurized suits for more than 60 years.

* The U-2 spy plane has flown continuously for the intelligence community and U.S. military for 64 years.
* As the times have changed and technology improves, the suits have gotten better at keeping pilots comfortable and alive.
* One company, the David Clark Company, has been the sole manufacturer of the suits since the 1960s.

The U.S. Air Force is continuing to improve the pressurized flight suit used by U-2 spy plane pilots, 64 years after the airplane’s first flight. The service is using emerging tech, including 3D printing, to make the suits lighter, more comfortable, and most importantly, safer than ever before.

The U-2 spy plane first flew on August 1st, 1955. The black jet’s ability to climb to extremely high altitudes and collect intelligence on adversaries and potential adversaries has kept it in Air Force service longer than any other aircraft. The airplane flies so high that pilots are required to wear a pressurized flight suit. Although the cockpit is normally pressurized, a sudden loss of pressurization could endanger a mission—and the pilot’s life—so pilots wear full body suits that resemble the astronaut suits.

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WNU Editor: This type of tech always fascinates me.

The Other U-2 Incident During The 1962 October Crisis That Almost Triggered World War III

FoxTrot Alpha: In 1962, A Lost U-2 Spy Plane Nearly Triggered World War III

In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis threatened to escalate into global thermonuclear war. The United States and Soviet Union both mobilized over nuclear missiles in Cuba, and a single spark could have effectively ended civilization. But what’s not well-remembered today is that at the height of that dispute, a lost plane near the North Pole nearly led the world down the same path.

On October 4, 1962 a U-S spy plane on a reconnaissance flight over Cuba made a disturbing find: Soviet SS-4 short-range ballistic missiles and SS-5 intermediate range ballistic missiles. Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev had jumped at Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s offer to host missiles in his country, just a few hundred miles from America—and within easy launch range.

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WNU Editor: I grew up during the Cold War, and there are times (like now) I wonder how we survived.

A Closer Look At The U-2

A U-2 over the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, March 23, 2016. US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Robert M. Trujillo

Business Insider: U-2 spy planes have lurked all over the world for 64 years — here's how the Dragon Lady keeps an eye on the battlefield

* The U-2 spy plane has been operating all over the world for more than 60 years.
* The Dragon Lady's mission has remained the same over that time, but how it does it has changed considerably, and the Air Force is always looking for ways to gather more information and distribute it faster.

The 64th anniversary of the U-2 spy plane's historic, and accidental, first flight came in early August.

While much about the Dragon Lady has changed in the past six decades — most of the 30 or so in use now were built in the 1980s, and they no longer do overflights of hostile territory, like the 1960 flight on which Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union — the U-2 is still at the front of the military's intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission, lurking off coastlines and above battlefields.

The U-2 is probably most famous for what pilots call "the optical bar camera," Maj. Travis "Lefty" Patterson, a U-2 pilot, said at an Air Force event in New York City in May.

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WNU Editor: 64 years .... and still flying. Quite an achievement.

The U.S. Air Force Is Spending Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars To Airlift Two Dodge Chargers To The U.K.

Warzone/The Drive: Wait, The USAF Is Spending Hundreds Of Thousands Airlifting Two Dodge Chargers To The UK?

The Air Force says it might just source chase cars there if it can't cut through various red tape to fly them. Why isn't it doing that already?

Two Dodge Charger chase cars the Air Force uses to help U-2 Dragon Lady spy planes land are hung up in red tape at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey as the service works to clear them to fly aboard one its transport aircraft to RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. It's not entirely clear how this has happened or why the Air Force has chosen what will invariably be the very costly option of shipping these cars via airlifter across the pond, to begin with.

The Air Force first revealed the cars' predicament in a news story on Aug. 21, 2019. It's not clear when the cars first arrived at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL), but they were there at least as of Aug. 12. Four days later, the 305th Aerial Port Squadron received orders to get them ready to go to RAF Mildenhall. An unspecified support truck is also part of the prospective shipment.

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Update: The Air Force is trying to figure out how to get 2 Dodge muscle cars across the Atlantic so they can help U-2 spy planes land (Business Insider/Air Force Times).

WNU Editor: There are a lot of fast cars in the U.K. that one can easily buy (and it will be cheaper) than shipping them via air transport from the U.S. to the U.K..

U-2 Spy Plane Took Its First Flight 64 Years Ago

Business Insider: 64 years ago, the vaunted U-2 spy plane took its first flight, and it happened by accident

* The U-2 spy plane lifted off for the first time on August 1, 1955.
* That first flight didn't go as planned, bu the Dragon Lady is still flying today.

On August 1, 1955, a prototype of the U-2 spy plane sprinted down a runway at Groom Lake in Nevada, and its massive wings quickly lifted it into the sky.

That wasn't exactly how it was supposed to go. It was meant to be a high-speed taxi test, but the prototype's highly efficient wings pulled it into the air unexpectedly. The plane's first official flight happened three days later.

Lockheed Martin footage captured the moment the venerable Dragon Lady started its 64-year career.

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WNU Editor: And this plane is still flying.

The U-2 Is Still Flying But The Plane Is Nothing Like The Past

A U-2 Dragon Lady pilot at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, October 12, 2017. US Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Anthony Nelson Jr

Business Insider: The U-2 reconnaissance plane has been snooping all over the world for more than 60 years, but today's Dragon Lady is nothing like the past

* The original U-2, developed in complete secrecy, took its first flight in August 1955.
* Sixty-four years later, the Dragon Lady is still prowling the skies, but with a whole new set of controls and sensors.

Since the mid-1950s, the US Air Force's U-2 Dragon Lady has been cruising the upper reaches of the atmosphere, snooping almost totally unnoticed.

While the mission is pretty much the same, the aircraft doing it are much different.

"The 'U' in U-2 stands for 'utility,' so a lot of people are like, 'OK, 1955, what are we doing in 2019, when we're flying F-35s and F-22s ... why are we flying the U-2 that was built in 1955?'" Maj. Travis "Lefty" Patterson, a U-2 pilot, said during an event hosted by the Air Force in May at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York City.

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WNU Editor: There are still quite a few U-2s flying ....  

.... The Air Force currently has about 30 of the single-seat U-2 for missions and four of the two-seat TU-2, which is used for training, based at Beale Air Force Base.

This Is How A U-2 Spy Plane Pilot Suits Up And Takes Off On A Mission

Popular Mechanics: Watch A U-2 Spy Plane Pilot Suit Up and Take Off on a Mission Over the Middle East

The “moon suit” looks surprisingly agile.

You don't just hop in and fly the Dragon Lady.

A new video on YouTube chronicles the extensive preparations required to fly the U-2 "Dragon Lady" spy plane. To cope with the extreme altitudes, pilots wear “moon suits” so large and complex it takes a full crew of technicians to help them put it on. The video then goes on to show the aircraft taking off what was until recently a secret base in the Middle East, fly a mission, and then return home.

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WNU Editor: There is the plane, the pilot, and as the above video shows, the all important support team.

U-2 Dragon Lady Flies Over The NCAA Championship Game

A U-2 Dragon Lady just made a rare low-altitude flyover to kick off the #NationalChampionship ! pic.twitter.com/us0kQye5AD

— Airshow News (@NewsAirshow) January 8, 2019

Air Force Times: Watch the U-2 Dragon Lady fly over the NCAA championship game

The U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane is one of the most iconic aircraft in the Air Force’s fleet, but many people have never gotten a glimpse of it — until last night.

A U-2 conducted a flyover before Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

As Airshow News — which posted this great video of the flyover — noted on its Twitter feed, a low-altitude flyover by a Dragon Lady is a rare occurrence indeed. The U-2 typically flies at extremely high altitudes, sometimes near space, and has a ceiling of more than 70,000 feet. It flies so high that its pilots must wear full-pressure suits similar to astronaut suits.

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WNU Editor: This is something that you do not see everyday.

U-2 Pilots Were Given A Special Diet So They Wouldn't Have To Poop

U-2 cockpit. Public Domain

Popular Mechanics: The CIA Gave U-2 Pilots a Special Diet So They Wouldn't Have To Poop

The U-2 was no place for a Number Two.

The U-2 spy plane was famous for pushing pilot endurance to the limit. The slow, high-flying aircraft flew for up to nine hours at a time, with a single pilot guiding the plane, taking pictures of the ground below, and occasionally dodging surface-to-air missiles.

Nine hours is a long time to be cooped up in a plane without a real bathroom—or to be stuck in a small space with the smell of your own fart. So the CIA actually prescribed a proper diet for U-2 pilots to avoid the need to poop or pass gas.

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WNU Editor: They think of everything.

The Retirement Date For The U-2 And A-10 Has Been Postponed Indefinitely

An Air Force U-2 flies a training mission. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Rose Reynolds)

DoD Buzz: Air Force Kills Retirement Date for U-2 Spy Plane

The Air Force has dropped plans to begin retiring the U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane around 2019, officials said Tuesday.

That was the date listed in previous spending plans drafted by the service. But the Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal 2018, beginning Oct. 1, doesn’t include any retirement date for the Cold War-era workhorse.

“There is not a retirement date for the U-2 in this budget,” Maj. Gen. James Martin, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, said during a budget briefing at the Pentagon. “We plan to keep that platform well into the future.”

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More News On The Retirement Date For The U-2 And A-10 Being Postponed Indefinitely

The A-10 Warthog Isn’t Going Anywhere — Yet -- Task & Purpose
The US Air Force makes it official: The A-10 will not be retired for the F-35 -- Business Insider
Stayin’ alive: No retirement in sight for the A-10 and U-2 -- Defense News
Budget spares U-2 and A-10 from retirement -- Flight Global
Air Force gives new life to the A-10 Warthog -- CNN
Air Force Would Defer A-10, U-2 Retirement Plans Under Trump Budget -- Executive Gov
Trump's Budget Would Keep the A-10 Warthog Flying, at Least For Now -- The Drive

U-2 Spy Plane Has Crashed In California. One Pilot Dead, Another Injured

A U-2 Dragon Lady has crashed near the Sutter Butttes @ approximately 9am this morning. 2 Pilots ejected. Updates to come.

— Beale Air Force Base (@9thRW) September 20, 2016

L.A. Times: One pilot dead, a second injured in U-2 spy plane crash in rural Northern California

One pilot was killed, and another injured when a U-2 spy plane crashed in Northern California shortly after takeoff Tuesday morning, according to a U.S. Air Force official.

The pilots ejected shortly after takeoff from Beale Air Force Base and moments before the aircraft crashed into a rural area north of Sacramento, according to the Air Force.

Initially, the Air Force reported the crew members had “safely ejected” and were awaiting recovery.

Almost four hours after the crash, however, air combat command tweeted, “There is no official confirmation of status of U-2 pilots.”

Shortly before 1 p.m., Sgt. Charity Barrett of Beale Air Force Base confirmed one pilot’s death. The extent of injuries suffered by the second pilot was unclear.

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WNU Editor: There are conflicting reports on the state of the two pilots. Both survived or one has been killed. Will update when news becomes available.

More News On A U-2 Spy Plane Crashing In California

Two Air Force Pilots Eject in U-2 Crash on West Coast -- Military.com
U-2 spy plane crashes in California -- FOX news
U-2 crashes in Northern California -- CNN
U-2 Spy Plane Crashes In Sutter County; Pilots Ejected -- CBS
Pilots Eject Before Military Plane Crash in California -- AP
Military spy plane crashes in central California -- RT

NATO's Top General Wants The U-2 To Be Deployed To Europe

U.S. Air Force

The Independent: Nato commander calls for return to service of U-2 spy plane to help conduct surveillance on a resurgent Russia

Exclusive: General Philip Breedlove said the iconic jet was among ‘additional intelligence collection platforms’ needed to effectively counter an increased threat posed by Moscow.

The U-2 spy plane, one of the most emblematic aircraft of the Cold War, should return to Europe to conduct surveillance on a resurgent and aggressive Russia, a top American general has warned.

General Philip Breedlove, the head of US forces in Europe and Nato’s supreme allied commander, said the iconic jet was among “additional intelligence collection platforms” needed to effectively counter an increased threat posed by Moscow after decades of downgrading of American military assets in the region. The officer, who is due to step down this spring, said Russia poses a “long-term existential threat” to the United States.

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WNU Editor: Apparently the U-2 has some capabilities not available or drones or from resources on the ground.